The situation of homosexuals in Senegal is becoming increasingly worrying, human rights activists in Africa are alarmed. This Monday, a young gay man who was trapped by a dating website was beaten up by a group of men in Dakar, the capital of the country, which is 95% Muslim, a local source and LGBT activist told Valeurs actuelles.
The day before, it was a gay teacher who was insulted and beaten up in the usual disrespect. His attackers tried to undress him and threatened to “cut off his testicles to make him a woman”, said a source at the scene. The incident took place in the Yoff district of Dakar. The victim, who was arrested by the gendarmerie, was even to be charged with homosexuality in the next few days.
Last Friday, two more homosexuals were also detained by the police, while a violent campaign has been aimed at criminalising homosexuality in the country for months. As Valeurs actuelles previously reported, on May 23, several thousand Muslims demonstrated in the country “for the criminalisation of homosexuality”.
On that day, the crowd, cheered on by Salafist imams, lit LBGT and Israeli flags and then multiplied calls to “burn” and kill gay people in Dakar. The And Samm Jikko Yi collective, supported by the Islamic Rally of Senegal, is specifically campaigning for an increase in sentences from five to ten years in prison for people guilty of acts deemed “unnatural”.
Senegalese President Macky Sall recently repeated in the press his refusal to accept any reform that would soften legislation that already criminalises homosexuality, despite outraged calls from human rights activists. “The government is using gays as scapegoats and abusing religion to make people forget the crisis and unemployment,” a local LGBT activist told Valeurs actuelles.
“We have had more than 150 calls for help from persecuted homosexuals in Senegal in the last three weeks, a new record,” adds Alexandre Marcel, president of the Idaho France Committee and secretary of the AOS Afrique Occident Solidaire network. Several personalities of Senegalese origin, such as the French actor Omar Sy, have been contacted to help them.
On the other hand, local activists complain about the intervention of the French LGBT association ADHEOS and its counterproductive effects on their difficult struggle on the ground. In a press release, the organisation called on the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, with a list of names, to ban the entry into France and Europe of “radicalised Islamic Senegalese” who advocate the criminalisation of homosexuality.
Senegalese media have since falsely accused Djamil Bangoura, a figure in the country’s LGBT movement, of being behind the list. “ADHEOS did not contact me. They wanted to do the right thing, but they put my life and the fight against HIV in danger,” the gay and Muslim activist told Valeurs actuelles.