Gambian President condemned by US for threat to slit gay mens’ throats
The US National Security Advisor has condemned comments made about Gambian President Yahya Jammeh about slitting the throats of gay men.
Yahya Jammeh made the threat earlier this month while making a tour stop in the country’s North Bank region.
On addressing the issue of gay people in Gambia, Jammeh said: ”If you do it [in Gambia] I will slit your throat.”
In a statement made by National Security Adviser Susan Rice today, she condemned Gambian Jammeh’s comments, saying he made an “unconscionable” threat against gay men.
She said his comments “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,”
Going on, she said the US is “reviewing what additional actions are appropriate to respond to this worsening situation.”
Earlier this year Jammeh said gay people “want to impose homosexuality on the globe, they are doomed”.
He has previously said that gay people are “vermin” and that homosexuality is one of the greatest threats facing humanity.
An attempted coup against Mr Jammeh’s government failed at the end of December.
Prior to that the President signed a new bill which calls for life imprisonment for people caught engaging in same-sex sexual activity.
Jammeh has ruled Gambia since a military coup in 1994.
In 2008, he was strongly criticised by EU officials after he vowed to introduce laws stricter than those in Iran, where gay acts between men are punishable by death.
