Gambia president calls gays ‘vermin’

REPORTS have emerged that Gambia President Yahya Jammeh has called homosexuals “vermin” and that he would target them the same way his government fights malaria-causing mosquitoes.

Jammeh, who last year branded gays a threat to humanity, made the comments in the midst if a renewed crackdown on LGBTI people in parts of Africa.

Recently, Nigeria outlawed same-sex relationships and Uganda voted for life imprisonment for some homosexual acts.

“We will fight these vermins called homosexuals or gays the same way we are fighting malaria-causing mosquitoes, if not more aggressively,” Jammeh said in a speech on state television on Tuesday.

Some western nations have threatened to cut aid to governments that pass anti-gay laws.

But Jammeh said his country would defend its sovereignty and not pander to international pressure on LGBTI issues.

“We will therefore not accept any friendship, aid or any other gesture that is conditional on accepting homosexuals or LGBT as they are now baptised by the powers that promote them,” he said.

“As far as I am concerned, LGBT can only stand for Leprosy, Gonorrhoea, Bacteria and Tuberculosis; all of which are detrimental to human existence,” he added.

Jammeh, who seized power in a 1994 coup, also infamously executed a number of prisoners in 2012.

According to Reuters, despite concerns over Gambia’s poor human rights record, diplomats have said the European Union could double aid to the country over the next seven years.