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New Constitution-making process - Index of articles
Zimbabwe
PM Morgan Tsvangirai rejects gay rights move
BBC News
March 26, 2010
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8588548.stm
Zimbabwe's Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has joined President Robert Mugabe in
dismissing calls to enshrine gay rights in the new constitution.
"I totally
agree with the president," he said, state media report.
Homosexual acts
are currently illegal in Zimbabwe. Mr Mugabe once said gays were
"worse than pigs and dogs", sparking international condemnation.
Gay rights have
become a controversial issue in several African countries in recent
months.
Mr Tsvangirai
joined his long-time rival Mr Mugabe in a power-sharing government
a year ago but relations between the two men remain tense.
'Very
worrying'
President Mugabe
told a belated celebration of International Women's Day that he
had recently learned of moves to introduce gay rights in the new
constitution currently being discussed.
"That issue
is not debatable, it's not up for discussion," he said, according
to the state-owned Herald newspaper.
"It is
just madness, insanity. The ancestors will turn in their graves
should we allow this to happen."
And Mr Tsvangirai
said he agreed.
"Women
make up 52% of the population... There are more women than men,
so why should men be proposing to men?"
Chesterfield
Samba, director of the Gays
And Lesbians of Zimbabwe (GALZ), told the BBC News website he
was seeking clarification of the comments.
But he said,
if confirmed, they would be "very worrying".
He also confirmed
that GALZ would be making a submission to the constitutional review
commission.
Although homosexual
acts are illegal in Zimbabwe, GALZ has an office in Harare and Mr
Samba said the police generally left them alone.
Supporters of
Mr Tsvangirai hope the new constitution will pave the way for free
elections, possibly as soon as 2011.
In Uganda, an
MP has introduced a draft bill which makes homosexual acts punishable
by life in prison and death in some circumstances.
In Malawi, a
gay couple has spent three months in jail after holding a party
to celebrate their engagement.
And in Kenya,
police intervened after rumours that a couple were planning a gay
wedding.
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