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Tanzania Says Anti-Gay Crackdown Is Not Government Policy

A local official has called on citizens to turn in gay people, whom he said would also be hunted down on social media.

The Tanzanian government is distancing itself from an anti-gay crackdown launched by the governor of the nation's economic capital, Dar es Salaam.

Governor Paul Makonda (below) encouraged citizens to turn in gay people, and also said they would be identified on social media by members of the Tanzania Communications Authority and the police, and then arrested.

Homosexual acts are illegal in the country under a colonial-era law, with those found guilty facing decades in prison. The sodomy law has rarely been enforced, but is still on the books, with the potential of it being applied possible at any time.

Makonda told reporters homosexuality "tramples on the moral values of Tanzanians and our two Christian and Muslim religions," AFP reports.

Amnesty International denounced the governor's remarks.

"It is extremely regrettable that Tanzania has chosen to take such a dangerous path in its handling of an already marginalized group of people. The idea of this taskforce must be immediately abandoned as it only serves to incite hatred among members of the public. LGBTI people in Tanzania already face discrimination, threats and attacks without hateful statements of this kind," said Joan Nyanyuki, Amnesty International Director for East Africa, the Horn and the Great Lakes.

The U.S. embassy in Dar es Salaam, meanwhile, warned its citizens in Tanzania to "remove or protect images and language that may run afoul of Tanzanian laws regarding homosexual practices and explicit sexual activity."

The European Union has recalled its ambassadors due to "the deterioration of the human rights and rule of law situation in the country," the BBC reports.

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Waving flag of Tanzania and

Tanzanian Government Distances Itself

The Tanzanian government released a statement through the ministry of foreign affairs, saying "Mr. Makonda was only airing his personal opinion" and that his orders were not official government policy.

The government would "continue to respect and uphold all human rights as provided for in the country's constitution," it added.

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