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Barack Obama tells African states to abandon anti-gay discrimination Barack Obama tells African states to abandon anti-gay discrimination
(about 1 hour later)
President Barack Obama, commenting on gay rights during his visit to Kenya, the land of his father, said his message across Africa was that states should not discriminate against people based on sexual orientation. The US president, Barack Obama, has launched an unprecedented defence of gay rights in Africa, telling Kenya’s president that the state has no right to punish people because of “who they love”.
Obama, visiting his late father’s homeland for the first time as US president, confronted Uhuru Kenyatta and millions of Kenyans watching on television with his “unequivocal” views. Homosexual acts are illegal in Kenya and surveys show nine in 10 people find them unacceptable.
Obama personalised the issue by comparing homophobia to racial discrimination that he had encountered in the United States. Never before has such a powerful foreign leader challenged Africans so directly on their own soil.
“I’ve been consistent all across Africa on this,” he said, during a joint press conference at the state house in Nairobi. “When you start treating people differently, because they’re different, that’s the path whereby freedoms begin to erode. And bad things happen.
“When a government gets in the habit of treating people differently those habits can spread. As an African-American in the United States I am painfully aware of what happens when people are treated differently under the law. I am unequivocal on this.”
There had been speculation that Obama would duck the issue and focus on security and trade with Kenya. But in line with his recently emboldened actions and statements on a number of topics, he pulled no punches as Kenyatta looked on in silence.
He added that for “a law-abiding citizen who is going about their business, and working at a job and obeying the traffic signs and not harming anybody, the idea they will be treated differently or abused because of who they love is wrong, full stop.”
The Kenyan president publicly disagreed with Obama. “There are some things that we must admit we don’t share,” Kenyatta said, insisting that gay rights “is not really an issue on the foremost mind of Kenyans”.
He added: “It’s very difficult for us to impose on people that which they themselves do not accept.”
Related: Barack Obama visits Kenya - in picturesRelated: Barack Obama visits Kenya - in pictures
Obama told a lengthy joint news conference with his Kenyan counterpart, Uhuru Kenyatta, on Saturday that treating people differently eroded freedom and then “bad things happen”. There was a ripple of applause from people in the state house audience. Africa has been described as the world’s most homophobic continent with same-sex relations illegal in 36 of 54 countries and punishable by death in a handful.
“That’s the path whereby freedoms begin to erode and bad things happen,” Obama said. “When a government gets in the habit of treating people differently, those habits can spread.” Obama also had firm words for Kenya on corruption, describing it as “the single biggest impediment to Kenya growing even faster”, and saying people were being “consistently sapped by corruption at a high level and at a low level.”
A number of Kenyan politicians and religious leaders had warned Obama in outspoken terms that any overtures on gay rights would not be welcomed in Kenya, where gay sex is punishable by up to 14 years in prison. Obama’s comments were swiftly criticised by Irungu Kang’ata, an MP in Kenyatta’s governing party. “They are in bad taste,” he said. “It’s a breach of the principle of sovereignty and equality of states. What if Kenyatta goes to America and says it should abolish the death penalty? Or for example it is like Obama goes to London or Madrid or The Hague or even Japan and says your monarchy is oppressive and a waste of money and should be done away with. In the same manner he can’t come to Kenya to tell us things that are unacceptable.”
Kenyatta said Kenya and the US shared many values but not on all issues, saying gay rights was not an issue for his people and adding that it was very difficult to impose beliefs on people that they did not accept. He said his government wanted to focus elsewhere. Deputy President William Ruto said in May that there was “no room” for gays in Kenya.
Obama has hailed the recent US supreme court decision that allowed same-sex marriage in all 50 US states.
Obama and Kenyatta covered a number of issues in the press conference. On combatting terrorism, Obama said the two countries needed to work together more closely against the Somali Islamist group al-Shabaab, including through increased intelligence sharing.
Al-Shabaab carried out the September 2013 attack on the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi in which at least 67 people were killed and more than 170 were injured.
“This is an existential fight for us,” Kenyatta said.
Obama said he was encouraged by statements Kenyatta has made about the need to root out corruption in the country, saying that was one issue that could slow down Kenya’s economic growth and development.
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Still, he noted the US had concerns about violence that erupted in Kenya after its 2007 election. Kenyatta faced charges related to that violence in the International Criminal Court, though those charges were later dropped. Ruto, however, still faces charges at the ICC.
Obama also acknowledged that some Kenyans have been frustrated that it took him until the seventh year of his presidency to visit. The president joked that he didn’t want the rest of Africa to think he was “playing favourites”. He will also visit Ethiopia.
The two leaders had opened their day-long meetings with a joint appearance at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit, a US-sponsored business conference. Obama announced $1bn in commitments from the US government, as well as American banks, foundations and philanthropists.
“Africa is on the move,” he declared.