Persecution in East Africa: Light a Candle for a Gay Tanzanian in Hiding

by Nomad

This rather cryptic message was found on Reddit:

pray for us

there is an order from our RC (of the capital city ) that all gay people should be reported & will undergo medical test and if they are confirmed to engage in gay sex they gonna die in jail..some of the famous gays from instagram are already caught! being gay is illegal in my country but i never thought they would go this far! i've been single since forever & nobody knows that am gay but this has really broke my heart..it is the most talked topic at school to the point that am afraiding to go to school..pray for us yall.. and sorry for my english

edit: until now 12 suspected gay men are already arrested

Last week, Paul Makonda, governor of the economic capital Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, announced the creation of a surveillance squad. Its mission is to hunt down suspected gay citizens and arrest them.

Makonda's 17-member team is composed of state officials from the Tanzania Communications Authority, the police and media practitioners. The team plans to use social media to track down alleged homosexuals and hold them for prosecution.

According to Makonda, homosexual behavior "tramples on the moral values of Tanzanians and our two Christian and Muslim religions."
Makonda, a fervent Christian and loyal ally of the nation's president said:

"I have information about the presence of many homosexuals in our province...These homosexuals boast on social networks."

Homosexual acts are illegal in Tanzania and gay and lesbians live in fear of exposure and criminal prosecution. Gay male sex is punishable by anything from 30 years to life imprisonment under Tanzanian law. There is no such ban on lesbian relations.

However, this aggressive crackdown comes as anti-gay rhetoric in Tanzania is on the rise.

Disinformation and Defiance

Last year, for example, it was reported the nation's health minister threatened to publish a list of gay citizens. Hamisi Kigwangalla defended his decision by arguing that homosexuality was only a social construct and scientifically didn't exist. In a tweet, Kigwangalla said

"Have you ever come across a gay goat or bird? Homosexuality is not biological, it is unnatural."

(Contrary to this argument, homosexual behavior has actually been documented in many non-human animal species.)

Mr. Makonda said he would be undeterred by international criticism, stating that he preferred to anger those countries "than to anger God."

In addition to this crackdown, the authorities have also ordered clinics treating HIV to close. The government claims that treatment equals endorsement and is, therefore, promoting homosexuality. Similarly, Tanzanian president John Joseph Magufuli's government has also threatened to arrest or deport gay rights activists.

Last Wednesday, according to one report, 12 men arrested last week for presumed homosexuality. One of those arrested was a hotel manager who provided a room for the men.

At a weekly press conference, Dar es Salaam police head Lazaro Mambosasa urged citizens to notify authorities if they caught wind of such activities "so we can act in time."

Another Populist Leader Turns Autocrat?

Critics have warned that Magufuli's reformist government may be headed into the authoritarianism and his heavy-handed approach has caused consternation abroad. Even so, he still has the majority on his side. says Dan Paget, a Tanzania expert who recently concluded a Ph.D. on the country’s politics at Oxford.

"Magufuli is popular. His war on corruption .. won him widespread approbation. Many Tanzanians think that they have a clean president who is putting right what was wrong."

This latest crackdown is merely part of a larger suppression of civil liberties in Tanzania. For example, government opposition point to new laws that force online content producers- even bloggers- to register with the authorities. This requires applying for a license and paying an exorbitant fee. ( $930—more than Tanzania’s GDP per capita in 2016.)Even if the application is approved, it comes with some strings.

A license can be revoked if the authorities deem an online publisher to have posted content that "causes annoyance, threatens harm or evil, encourages or incites crimes" or poses a threat to "national security or public health and safety". Blogging without a license is illegal — offenders face a fine of at least TSh5m, a minimum of one year in prison, or both.

In addition, all Internet cafés are expected to install surveillance cameras to record and archive activities inside their business premises.

When combined with other new restrictions, this effectively shuts down all online dissent in a country with a struggling free press.

As one human rights campaigner pointed out:

A simple truth remains: Abusive leaders and despots grow strength in the darkness, and they become more emboldened in the shadows. The more that a spotlight can be shown on the democratic backsliding taking place in Tanzania, and the more consequences that hopefully follow for the ruling government, the better the future will be for the country’s nearly 60 million inhabitants. Tanzania is much too big, and much too important, to fail.

So should the West ignore the warning signs? That would require using the threat of sanctions.
Tanzania's top five trading partners include China, Germany, Japan, India, and the European Union. As a trading partner, the US has limited leverage with about $269 million in total (two way) goods trade.

The question is, of course, whether the Trump administration, with its own dubious record on gay rights, actually has the will to affect human rights anywhere in the world.
Right now, the only message that Trump is sending to the world is "America First" and that human rights around the world is no longer a high priority in the new anti-interventionist American foreign policy.

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