The Obama administration responds to the heinous threat by the President of The Gambia, a dictator who repeatedly issues violent statements on homosexuality.
U.S. National Security Advisor Susan Rice (photo) late Saturday night issued a statement condemning Gambian President Yahya Jammeh‘s comments earlier this month promising to violently murder all gay people, in a veiled threat to Western leaders.
“If you do it [in the Gambia] I will slit your throat — if you are a man and want to marry another man in this country and we catch you, no one will ever set eyes on you again, and no white person can do anything about it,” Vice News reported, noting President Jammeh’s “said in the Wolof language to a crowd in the town of Farafeni as he spoke about fostering a healthy atmosphere for the country’s youth.”
In response, and reportedly at the urging of LGBT activists, Rice labeled President Yahya Jammeh’s comments “unconscionable.”
“The recent unconscionable comments by Gambian President Yahya Jammeh underscore why we must continue to seek a world in which no one lives in fear of violence or persecution because of who they are or whom they love,” Rice said in a statement. “We condemn his comments, and note these threats come amid an alarming deterioration of the broader human rights situation in The Gambia.”
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Rice also noted the Obama administration is “deeply concerned about credible reports of torture, suspicious disappearances – including of two American citizens – and arbitrary detention at the [Gambian] government’s hands.”
In 2008, President Jammeh, who took power in a 1994 military coup, told his country’s LGBT citizens they had 24 hours to leave the country, promising he would “cut off the head” of any gay person, and would impose “stricter laws than Iran” on homosexuality.
The Gambia is a small West African country of less than two million people, ninety percent of whom are Muslim.
Noting that on Sunday “the international community will mark the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia,” Rice said the United States last year had “acted on The Gambia’s crackdown against its LGBT community and wider human rights violations by ending trade preferences, and we are reviewing what additional actions are appropriate to respond to this worsening situation.”
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“We repeat our call for the Gambian government, and all governments, to lead inclusively, repudiate intolerance, and promote respect for the universal rights and fundamental freedoms of all people.”
Just two years ago, calling homosexuality “anti-humanity,” President Jammeh, a Sunni Muslim, promised “no mercy” for those convicted of homosexuality.
“Homosexuality is anti-god, anti-human, and anti-civilization,” Jammeh continued. “Homosexuals are not welcome in the Gambia. If we catch you, you will regret why you are born. I have buffalos from South Africa and Brazil and they never date each other. We are ready to eat grass but we will not compromise on this. Allowing homosexuality means allowing satanic rights. We will not allow gays here.”
The Washington Blade reports that this past week, “the Human Rights Campaign and the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice & Human Rights wrote an open letter to Rice calling for a White House statement condemning the remarks, which the groups said would ‘help advance human rights in the country by exposing these ongoing injustices to the world and by standing on the side of ordinary Gambians who continue to advocate for accountability and justice in the country.'”Â
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Image by U.S. Department of State via Flickr
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