Burundi’s President, Evariste Ndayishimiye has called on his countrymen to stone gay people. He also railed against Western governments that he said had conditioned providing aid to Africa on accepting gay rights.
While his remarks do not carry a legal force of law, it could escalate a crackdown on sexual minorities in the country. In Burundi, LGBT people face jail terms of up to two years if convicted of same-sex offences.
“If you want to attract a curse to the country, accept homosexuality,” Ndayishimiye said in a question and answer session with journalists and the public held in Burundi’s east on Friday.
“I even think that these people, if we find them in Burundi, it is better to lead them to a stadium and stone them. And that cannot be a sin,” he said, describing homosexuality as imported from the West.
His comments added to the spate of intolerance of LGBT people in the region.
A gay human rights activist in Burundi who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation, expressed concern that the president’s statement sets the stage for extrajudicial killings and “worsens an already unsafe environment.”
