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Gambia President Jammeh Renews Attacks on Gay Rights

The President of The Gambia has renewed his harsh attacks on gays. Responding to recent calls for African nations to respect gay rights, Gambian President Yahya Jammeh reiterated that he would never accept gays in his West African nation, reports the South African Press Association.

"We know what human rights are. Human beings of the same sex cannot marry or date," Jammeh said while swearing in 15 ministers of his new government. "If you think it is human rights to destroy our culture, you are making a great mistake because if you are in the Gambia, you are in the wrong place then."

In [Gambia] homosexuality is punishable by up to 14 years imprisonment, for men and women. Jammeh has threatened to introduce even stricter laws.

Jammeh has ruled The Gambia after seizing power in a military coup in 1994. In recent years the West African dictator has attracted international attention for his anti-gay rhetoric and violent threats. In May and June 2008, the Gambian leader ordered all homosexuals to leave the country and promised to "cut off the head"of any gay man remained in the West African nation.

Jammeh has also threatened to fire all gay and lesbian officers serving in the military.

Same-sex acts are currently illegal in at least 38 of 54 African countries. Four nations—Mauritania, Nigeria, Somalia and Sudan—boast the death penalty for gays or same-sex activity. South Africa and Seychelles are the only African nations that protect LGBT rights. South Africa is also the only African nation to guarantee marriage equality.

Some Background  ...
Gambian Pres. Threatens to "Cut Off the Head" of Homosexuals
UN Rep Expelled After Doubting President's AIDS "Cure"
Gambian President Can Cure "HIV"
Gambian President Threatens to Fire All Gay Soldiers
UN Chief Urges African Leaders to Respect Gay Rights

UGANDA: Parliament to Debate Deadly "Kill the Gays" Bill

Ugandan MPs ramp up their state-sponsored anti-gay terror campaign ...

Next week the parliament begins debate on the extreme Anti-Homosexuality Bill, which seeks the death penalty or life imprisonment for  "aggravated homosexuality," reports UG Pulse.

The controversia bill is one of several  that Members of Parliament on the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs committee are set to debate when the House resumes business next week. The bill, which has caused uproar from human rights activists and donors since it was tabled in Parliament in 2009, seeks to criminalize the act, with one of the controversial clauses calling for death penalty for those who are found guilty of aggravated homosexuality.

Speaking to the media at Parliament today, the committee chairman, Stephen Tashobya said though the bill has created both local and international concern, it is up to Parliament to pass the bill. Tashobya says the committee will hold public hearings where stakeholders’ views will be heard and a report made to the House for debate and possible passing before Parliament closes the 8th Parliament.

Public hearings will be held and MP David Bahati, the sponsor of the bill, says he "welcomed the development ... to protect the Ugandan traditional family and children."

A series of confidential State Department cables leaked by WikiLeaks revealed American diplomacy around the bill. Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni claimed that no executions would occur, but warned diplomats not to publicly "push" the issue, or he would be seen as Washington's "puppet."

REPORT: Usher Donates Gadhafi Money to Amnesty International

This is major. Not only has Usher reportedly donated the substantial fee he received from Mutassim Gadhafi—the son of Col. Muammar Gadhafi and the Libyan national security adviser coordinating the bloody crackdown that has killed thousands—but he donated it to Amnesty International.

Usher said Friday he's "sincerely troubled" to learn he appeared at a concert in St. Bart's linked to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's family and plans donate his concert fee to human rights organizations. Usher did not perform but was paid to appear at the private concert featuring Beyonce in 2009.

"I am sincerely troubled to learn about the circumstances surrounding the Nikki Beach St. Bart's event that took place on New Year's Eve 2009, " he said in a statement released to The Associated Press. "I will be donating all of my personal proceeds from that event to various human rights organizations."

The statement said Usher made a contribution Friday to Amnesty International, which the organization confirmed. The group said Usher requested the donation amount be private.

Earlier this week, Beyonce and Nelly Furtado renounced their performances at private concerts for the Gadhafi family. The Libyan leaders are responsible for the deaths of thousands of civilians in Libya, where entire cities and provinces are revolting against the dictatorship. The entertainers have promised to give their fees to charity or said they have already done so.

Gadhafi and his sons face investigation for war crimes.

And as for Mariah Carey?

Carey said she was unaware of whom she was performing for and "embarrassed." She announced she will donate royalties for the song "Save the Day," which she has written for her upcoming album, to charities that create awareness for human-rights issues.

You Should Read ...
Beyoncé Donated Gadhafi Millions to Haiti Relief
Furtado to Donate Gadhafi Money to Charity
WIKILEAKS: Beyonce, Usher, Mariah Performed for Gadhafi Son

REPORT: Beyoncé Donated Gadhafi Millions to Haiti Relief

Bravo to Team Beyonce. The pop icon reportedly donated the $2 million she received to perform for Mutassim Gadhafi—the son of Col. Muammar Gadhafi and the Libyan national security adviser coordinating the bloody crackdown that has killed thousands—to Haitian earthquake relief.

Beyonce gave the money away as soon as she learned of Mr Gaddafi's connection to the concert at a private party on the Caribbean island of St Barts on December 31, 2009, spokeswoman Yvette Noel-Schure said.

"All monies paid to Beyonce for her performance at a private party at Nikki Beach St Barts on New Year's Eve 2009... were donated to the earthquake relief efforts in Haiti over a year ago," she said. "Once it became known the third party promoter was linked to the (Gaddafi) family, the decision was made to put that payment to a good cause."

Earlier this week, singer/songwriter Nelly Furtado tweeted she is donating the $1 million she was paid for a private concert for Libya's Gadhafi family.

Excellent decisions by Furtado and Beyoncé, who obviously do not want their brands associated with the carnage in Libya. And continued silence from Usher, Mariah Carey, 50 Cent and others who were also paid millions to entertain the blood-thirsty Libyan leader ... responsible for ordering  soldiers to spray  unarmed civilian crowds with machine guns and helicopter and bomber strikes against civilian targets, among other atrocities.

Speak now or possibly be forced to testify in a war crimes trial. The International Criminal Court in The Hague announced today that it will investigate Gadhafi, his sons, key aides for crimes against humanity.

You Should Read ...
Furtado to Donate Qaddafi Money to Charity
WIKILEAKS: Beyonce, Usher, Mariah Performed for Qaddafi Son

Nelly Furtado to Donate $1 Million in Gadhafi Money to Charity

 

Bravo and much respect to Nelly Furtado, who Tweeted that she cannot keep the $1 million she was paid for a private concert for Libya's Gadhafi family. Furtado will donate the sum to charity.

Continued silence from Beyoncé, Usher, Mariah Carey, 50 Cent and others, who were paid millions to perform for Mutassim Gadhafi, the son of Col. Muammar Gadhafi and the Libyan national security adviser coordinating the bloody crackdown that has killed thousands in the past two weeks. In addition to ordering soldiers and mercenaries to spray civilian crowds with machine guns, the Gadhafis have also ordered helicopter and bomber strikes.

Those celebrities' position has become even more tenuous: The United Nations has referred Mutassim Gadhafi, his brothers and Col. Muammar Gadhafi to the International Criminal Court in The Hague for war crimes.

Music industry sources acknowledge most artists are "probably not" told exactly who pays for many of these extravagant private parties ... but most do not care. Metallica agent Dennis Arfa tells Rolling Stone, "Not every artist is a humanitarian. In more cases than not, for people, greed rules."

It's a good thing that Beyoncé and Usher already cashed their checks. The United States is moving warships toward Libya and has frozen $30 billion in Libyan assets. Britain has also frozen billions in Libyan assets.

WIKILEAKS: Beyonce, Usher, Mariah Performed for Gadhafi Son

UPDATE: Switzerland blocks all Gadhafi assets.

  Beyoncé, Usher and Mariah Carey were paid millions to perform for Mutassim Gadhafi. The son of Col. Muammar Gadhafi and the Libyan national security adviser believed to be coordinating the bloody crackdown that has killed hundreds this week.

That according to confidential State Dept cables leaked by WikiLeaks and published by the New York Times. The intelligence describes the Gadhafi sons as ruthless, "hard-partying, womanizing" and obscenely extravagant, spending millions in petrodollars as the country starves and heads into a bloody civil war.

  After New Year’s Day 2009, Western media reported that Seif al-Islam el-Qaddafi, a son of the Libyan leader Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, had paid Mariah Carey $1 million to sing just four songs at a bash on the Caribbean island of St. Barts.

Seif indignantly denied the report — the big spender, he said, was his brother, Muatassim, Libya’s national security adviser, according to an American diplomatic cable from the capital, Tripoli. It was Muatassim, too, the cable said, who had demanded $1.2 billion in 2008 from the chairman of Libya’s national oil corporation, reportedly to establish his own militia. That would let him keep up with yet another brother, Khamis, commander of a special-forces group that "effectively serves as a regime protection unit." [...]

A year ago, a cable reported that proliferating scandals had sent the clan into a "tailspin" and “provided local observers with enough dirt for a Libyan soap opera." Muatassim had repeated his St. Barts New Year’s fest, this time hiring the pop singers Beyoncé and Usher. An unnamed "local political observer" in Tripoli told American diplomats that Muatassim’s "carousing and extravagance angered some locals, who viewed his activities as impious and embarrassing to the nation."

Beyoncé was reportedly paid $2 million for her private performance.

Days before the 2010 concert, another brother, Hannibal, fled London after being accused of brutally abusing his wife. Libyan diplomat advised the wife to tell "police that she had been hurt in an 'accident'," cables show.

Only two years before in 2008, Hannibal and his wife were arrested in Geneva for allegedly beating several servants at a luxury hotel. The Gadhafi were released  two days later but the Libyan leader was "so enraged by his son's two-day detention" that he "had two Swiss businessmen arrested, cancelled most flights between the two states and withdrew about $5bn from his Swiss bank accounts," reports The Guardian.

Why should pop stars care if they're partying with dictators who order soldiers to spray crowds of unarmed people with machine guns? "They're getting paid," right?

UPDATE: Switzerland blocks all Qaddafi assets.

WIKILEAKS: Gambian Leader Confirms Threat to "Cut Off the Head" of "Any Homosexual"

The President of The Gambia confirmed making violent anti-gay threats, such as vowing to "cut off the head" of "any homosexual"—but dismissed them as rhetoric and insisted he was "not a monster." That according to a series of confidential State Department cables leaked by WikiLeaks and released in the Spanish newspaper El Pais (translation).

Read the cable HERE.

The February 2010 meeting between American Ambassador Barry L. Wells and President Yahya Jammeh reveal the American government was concerned about extreme homophobic statements from the West African leader, such as the decapitation threat and an order for all homosexuals to leave the country.

"Yes I did make those comments but did I actually cut off anyone's head? Have I ever arrested anyone for being gay? No, but Senegal has arrested and imprisoned someone for being gay and they receive the [Millennium Development Goals]. There are gays here in The Gambia, I know that. But they live in secret and that is fine with me, as long as long as they go about their business in private we don't mind. But if you are talking about marrying in this country, that will never happen. We will never accept gays."

The reference to neighboring Senegal was to the December 2008 arrest of eight gay HIV/AIDS activists. After being sentenced to eight years hard labor for "indecent conduct and unnatural acts", the convictions were overturned in April 2009.

"The dozens of cables sent to Washington by diplomats on the continent [show] homophobia is rampant in the streets and government offices in Africa," reports El Pais.

Jammeh also threatened to fire all gay and lesbian officers serving in the military.

The Gambian dictator's private comments are similar to those by Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni—whose 25-year term was extended over the weekend—who also dismissed extreme anti-gay public statements. 

Some Background  ...
Gambian Pres. Threatens to "Cut Off the Head" of Homosexuals
UN Rep Expelled After Doubting President's AIDS "Cure"
Gambian President Can Cure "HIV"
WIKILEAKS: Cables Show Ugandan Mockery of Kato

UGANDA: Museveni Wins Elections, Extending 25 Years in Power

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has been declared the winner of Saturday's presidential elections, extending his 25 years in power by another five-year term. Museveni has vowed to stop any street protests and warned "he will use the military to crush any dissent," reports Deutsche Welle.

The Ugandan electoral commission announced on Sunday that Yoweri Museveni had won 68 percent of the presidential vote, well ahead of his closest challenger, Kizza Besigye with 26 percent. Turnout was 59 percent of Uganda's roughly 14 million registered voters. ...

However, European Union election observers said that what they called an unnecessary military presence on polling day on Friday had created an uneasy, intimidating atmosphere.

Besigye has already alleged that huge sums had been used to buy votes and to bribe polling agents, parliamentary candidates and electoral officials. "We reject the outcome of the election and reject the leadership of Mr Yoweri Museveni," Besigye told a news conference. He warned that Uganda was not immune from an Egypt-style revolt. 

In January, Dr. Besigye said police should "not waste resources" investigating homosexuality and he would decriminalize the practice if elected.

"The opposition candidate was standing against Mr Museveni for the third time," reports BBC. "Besigye and Museveni were allies in the guerrilla war which brought the latter to power in 1986, but they later fell out."

A series of confidential State Department cables leaked by WikiLeaks revealed American diplomacy around the extreme Anti-Homosexuality Bill, which mandated the death penalty or life imprisonment for the new crime of "aggravated homosexuality." Museveni assured American diplomats that no executions would occur, but warned diplomats not to publicly "push" the issue, or he would be seen as Washington's "puppet."

WIKILEAKS: Cables Show Ugandan Mockery of Kato, U.S. Concerns Over Extreme Homophobia

State-sponsored anti-gay terror campaigns are spreading across Africa and governments are monitoring activists' mobile and eletronic communications, according to a series of confidential State Department cables leaked by WikiLeaks and released  in the Spanish newspaper El Pais (translation).

American diplomats are particularly concerned over the extreme homophobia in Uganda, the cables show. The leaked memos show LGBT activists lived in a "dangerous" climate and government officials openly "mocked" David Kato at a December 2009 United Nations consultative meeting, according to another WikiLeak release published by The Guardian. Kato, of course, was later  brutally beaten to death at his home in January 2011.

The diplomat said Kato ... delivered a well-written speech against the bill, but his words were almost inaudible due to "his evident nervousness". Throughout his talk a member of the Ugandan Human Rights Commission "openly joked and snickered" with supporters of the bill, the diplomat claimed in the cable.

The "consultative meeting" in December 2009, organised with funding from the UN, aimed to discuss the bill, which would impose the death penalty for "aggravated homosexuality" and life imprisonment for consenting adults who have gay sex.

In the cable, dated 24 December 2009, the diplomat claimed Ugandan politicians, including the author of the anti-homosexuality bill, David Bahati, had channelled anger at the country's socio-political failings into "violent hatred" of gays.

Other confidential memos sent between Kampala and Washington in 2009-2010 and sent to WikiLeaks paint a picture of a worsening human rights climate in the run-up to Ugandan elections Uganda's "chilling" descent from tolerance to violent homophobia and a deepening fear among gay activists, who claim they are being increasingly monitored and harassed. The memos, classified as confidential, also reveal US diplomatic attempts to combat the draconian bill – which is at the parliamentary committee stage. 

Confidential cables released by El Pais offer a rare glimpse into behind-the-scenes diplomacy conducted by Washington over the extreme Anti-Homosexuality Bill, which mandated the death penalty or life imprisonment for the new crime of "aggravated homosexuality." President Yoweri Museveni assured American diplomats that no executions would occur, but warned diplomats not to publicly "push" the issue.

[Assistant Secretary of State  Johnnie Carson] expressed gratitude that Museveni had tamped down the tensions surrounding Uganda's draft anti-homosexuality bill. Both Carson and [Under Secretary Maria Otero]  encouraged Museveni to pursue decriminalization and destigmatization of homosexuality. Museveni warned outsiders of pushing Africa too hard on this issue, lest it create another hurricane, and lectured on African family values. He assured the USG delegation that nobody in Uganda would be executed for homosexual behavior, but explained that in the African context homosexuality is a disorder and not something to be promoted or celebrated. Don't push it, warned Museveni, "I'll handle it."

El Pais adds: "One of the greatest fears that show African leaders in their contacts with the Americans is to appear before their subjects as puppets of the West.  Museveni mentioned a cartoon circulating around the country in which [is drawn] as a puppet of  Hillary Clinton, and the then prime ministers of United Kingdom and Australia, as an example of damage that can lead to being too sympathetic to the pleas for human rights." 

The Kato cable is HERE.

The Museveni cable is HERE.

NEWS: iPhone, WikiLeaks, Tyson Beckford, Texas, Honey Dijon

Verizon iPhone to become available later this month.

Will Smith to become a judge on the new U.S. X Factor.

Not-so-happy ending: T.I. reprimanded after caught getting hand job from wife in prison  visitation room.

Listen/download: Fierce new tracks by Miss Honey Dijon.

Justice Department subpoenas Twitter accounts of WikiLeaks, founder Julian Assange, several supporters and and U.S. Army intelligence analyst Bradley Manning, suspected of leaking "hundreds of thousands" of confidential documents released last year by Wikileaks. Subpoena includes an Iceland MP's Twitter account. 

Beefcake: The year in sports.

Madonna banned from Piers Morgans new CNN show.

Chicago: Neo-Nazi convicted of threatening gay jury foreman.

Mark Walberg, Channing Tatum and Tyson Beckford have the most-coveted abs.

Spain: Catholic youth group sells naked calendar to raise funds.

Andrew Christian includes bulges in new "enhacing" underwear.

Texas appeals court upolds divorce of lesbian couple and rules Attorney General Greg Abbott cannot intervene. The ''decision does not affect Texas' ban on gay marriage but lets stand for now the divorce of two women who were married out of state.''

Medicaid cuts become deadly in Arizona. At least two people have died since November when 1000 people were dropped from the organ transplant list. "The state decided it could no longer afford to pay for some transplants which can cost $200,000," reports AMERICABlog.