Prime Minister of Senegal, Ousmane Sonko, on Friday condemned what he described as Western “tyranny” over attempts to “impose” homosexuality, while rejecting any external pressure aimed at stopping the enforcement of Senegal’s tougher law on same-sex relations.
He said LGBTQ advocacy has increasingly been presented in Africa as a cultural import driven by Western influence, arguing that global power dynamics allow a small group of countries to shape narratives worldwide.
“There are eight billion human beings in the world, but there is a small nucleus called the West which, because it has resources and controls the media, wants to impose it (homosexuality) on the rest of the world,” Sonko said in an address to lawmakers in the West African country.
The comments come amid ongoing debate in Senegal following the signing of new legislation in late March by President Bassirou Diomaye Faye, which significantly increases penalties for same-sex relations.
Under the revised law, “acts against nature”, a term used in Senegalese legislation to refer to same-sex relations, are now punishable by five to 10 years in prison, up from the previous one to five years.
The law also introduces prison sentences of three to seven years for anyone found guilty of promoting or financing same-sex relationships.
Before becoming Prime Minister in 2024, Sonko had pledged to further tighten laws on same-sex relations, proposing to raise the offence from its earlier classification as a misdemeanour.
