Burundi President wants same s3x couples stoned to death

The President of Burundi, Evariste Ndayishimiye, on Friday, launched a hardline anti-gay tirade, saying same-sex couples should be publicly stoned.

Ndayishimiye also lashed out at Western countries that press other nations to allow gay rights or risk losing aid.

Ripples Nigeria reports that homosexuality in Burundi, a conservative Christian country in East Africa, has been criminalised since 2009 with prison terms of up to two years for consensual same-sex acts.

Ndayishimiye, a Catholic, described the marriage between same-sex couples as an “abominable practice.”

“Personally, I think if we see these kinds of individuals in Burundi we should put them in a stadium and stone them. And it would not be a sin for those who do,” Ndayishimiye said in response to a question at a public event broadcast by Burundian media.

Ndayishimiye also criticised Western countries that urge smaller nations to allow gay marriage or risk losing aid, saying, “Let them keep their help, let them keep it.”

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Burundians living abroad who have “chosen the devil” and practise homosexuality should “not come back,” the President added.

Homosexuality is illegal in many East African countries, which have a history of repression and stigmas against gay people, often encouraged by conservative Muslims and Christians.

Burundi, in March this year, charged 24 people with “homosexual practices” in a crackdown on same-sex relationships.

The move followed a call by Ndayishimiye for citizens to root out homosexuality and treat gay people as “pariahs.”

Ndayishimiye, who took power in June 2020 after the death of President Pierre Nkurunziza, has been lauded by the international community for slowly ending years of Burundi’s isolation under his predecessor’s chaotic and bloody rule.

He has, however, failed to improve a wretched human rights record and the country of 12 million people remains one of the poorest on the planet.

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