Robert Mugabe has thrown his weight behind Uganda’s draconian
anti-gay laws and hinted at a crackdown on gays in his own country,
state media reported on Monday.
He castigated the West for
punishing Kampala with aid cuts after President Yoweri Museveni signed
into law a bill that banned homosexuality in the East African country.
"They
(the West) want to tell us ... that it’s a violation of human rights,
that is what they are doing to Museveni right now," Mr Mugabe said.
"The
human right you have as a man is to marry another woman, not to get
another man to marry, we refuse that," he said at a weekend wedding
reception of his only daughter Bona.
Mr Mugabe has previously said homosexuality is un-African and described gays and lesbians as worse than pigs and dogs.
"It’s
a terrible world we are in, a terrible world where people want to do
things that they feel will enhance their own interests," he said.
The
president also said that until recently he had not been aware of the
existence of an association of gay and lesbian people in Zimbabwe, and
warned he would want to know who belonged to the group.
"I
understand we have a group of homosexuals in this country," he said. "I
didn’t know until I was told the day before yesterday. So we want to
check on who is in that group."
The group, which calls itself Gays
and Lesbians of Zimbabwe, has long operated in the country despite Mr
Mugabe’s ranting against homosexuality. Police have on several occasions
raided the group’s offices, and prosecutors had laid charges against
it, accusing it of operating as an unregistered organisation. However, a
magistrate dismissed the case last week.
Same-sex marriages outlawed in Zimbabwe.
In
Uganda, the World Bank last week stalled a $90m loan planned to help
the country strengthen its healthcare system. The bank’s move followed
action by Denmark, the Netherlands and Norway to freeze or change aid
programmes for Uganda, and blunt criticism from the US and Sweden.
Mr
Museveni signed a bill into law that holds that "repeat homosexuals"
should be jailed for life, outlaws the promotion of homosexuality and
requires people to report on homosexuals.
AFP