{"id":9481,"date":"2011-11-09T15:35:23","date_gmt":"2011-11-09T20:35:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/news\/?p=9481"},"modified":"2011-11-09T15:35:23","modified_gmt":"2011-11-09T20:35:23","slug":"african-leaders-cite-christian-muslim-beliefs-tell-british-to-quit-pushing-immorality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2011\/11\/african-leaders-cite-christian-muslim-beliefs-tell-british-to-quit-pushing-immorality","title":{"rendered":"African leaders cite Christian, Muslim beliefs, tell British to quit pushing immorality"},"content":{"rendered":"

Whether or not to legalize lifestyles they consider immoral should not be a requirement for receiving British foreign aid, a key African leader told Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Ghana's President Mills<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Offended by the implication that Ghana’s former colonial masters in Great Britain\u00a0are wiser than native Africans, Ghana’s President John Evans Atta\u00a0Mills\u00a0says Britain does not have the right to mandate Ghanaian cultural and moral values.<\/p>\n

Cameron has threatened developing nations which do not drop their longstanding prohibitions on homosexuality\u00a0with the loss\u00a0foreign aid.\u00a0He is also pushing for the legalization of same-gender marriage in the United Kingdom.<\/p>\n

\u201cBritish aid should have more strings attached. Britain is now one of the premier aid givers in the world,” Cameron told Australian talk show host\u00a0Andrew Marr. “We want to see countries that receive our aid adhering to proper human rights, and that includes how people treat gay and lesbian people. We are saying this is one of the things that will determine our aid policy. These countries are all on a journey and it is up to us to help them along that journey.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ghana is not interested, says President Mills.\u00a0\u201cI, as president of this nation will never initiate or support any attempts to legalize homosexuality in Ghana,\u201d he said in an official\u00a0response to Cameron — and he’s not alone, according to David Baklinsky for LifeSiteNews.<\/a><\/p>\n

“Several African countries are making their stand against Britain\u2019s threat that they either legalize homosexual acts or be excluded from financial aid,” writes Baklinski.<\/p>\n

Mills was\u00a0reportedly irked at\u00a0a meeting in Perth,\u00a0Australia,\u00a0of\u00a0countries which form the British Commonwealth, when the issue of homosexualitywas raised in an internal report that recommended that all Commonwealth countries end their bans on homosexual activity, according to BBC.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo one can deny Prime Minister Cameron his right to make policies,”\u00a0Mills said,\u00a0“take initiatives or make statements that reflect his societal norms and ideals. But, he does not have the right to direct other sovereign nations as to what they should do, especially where their societal norms and ideals are different from those which exist in Prime Minister Cameron\u2019s society.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile we acknowledge all the financial assistance and all the aid which has been given to us by our development partners, we will not accept any aid with \u2018strings attached\u2019 if that aid will not inure to our interests, or the implementation\u2014or the utilization\u2014of that aid-with-strings-attached would rather worsen our plight as a nation, or destroy the very society that we want to use the money to improve.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0The nation of Malawi\u2019s governmental spokesperson Patricia Kaliati\u00a0recently told the Nyasa Times <\/em>newspaper\u00a0that it was \u201cunfortunate\u201d that Britain was considering \u201cpro-gay strings\u201d to aid. She noted\u00a0that homosexual acts are illegal in Malawi.<\/p>\n

Uganda’s presidential adviser John Nagenda made a stronger statement to BBC, noted Baklinski,\u00a0“saying that Ugandans were ‘tired of these lectures’ and should not be treated ‘like children,’ adding that the Cameron\u2019s ‘bullying mentality’ was ‘very wrong.’<\/p>\n

\u201cUganda is, if you remember, a sovereign state and we are tired of being given these lectures by people,” he said. “If they must take their money, so be it.\u201d<\/p>\n

“After Mills\u2019 statements,” reported Baklinski,\u00a0“Tanzania added itself to the growing list of African countries saying that they will not compromise on their cultural and moral values, even if it means losing Britain\u2019s financial support.”<\/p>\n

\u201cTanzania will never accept Cameron\u2019s proposal because we have our own moral values,” said foreign affairs minister Bernard Membe, according to Tanzania\u2019s Guardian<\/em> newspaper. “Homosexuality is not part of our culture and we will never legalize it. Tanzania is ready to end diplomatic ties with Britain if it imposes conditions on the assistance it provides to pressurize for adoption of laws that recognize homosexuality.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are guided by our tradition. We have families of a mother, a father and children. What Cameron is doing might lead to the collapse of the Commonwealth.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Zanzibar's President Shein<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“Zanzibar, Tanzania\u2019s semi-autonomous archipelago, has also come out strongly against British aid with strings attached,” reports Baklinski.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have strong Islamic and Zanzibari culture that abhors gay and lesbian activities, and to anyone who tells us that development support is linked to accepting this, we are saying \u2018no,\u2019\u201d said Zanzibar President Ali Mohamed Shein to journalists. \u201cWe cannot compromise our deeply rooted culture or something which completely against our religion. Let them cut off aid.\u201d<\/p>\n

Homosexual acts are illegal\u00a0in 40 out of 53 African countries, reported Baklinski.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Whether or not to legalize lifestyles they consider immoral should not be a requirement for receiving British foreign aid, a key African leader told Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron on Wednesday. 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