Respect gay rights - Belgium PM tells African leaders

Belgium's gay Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo has called on African leaders to respect the rights of minorities, including homosexuals.

It was intolerable that people were "persecuted for their origins, their sexual orientation, their religion and their convictions", he said.

Mr Di Rupo was addressing African and European leaders attending the EU-Africa summit in Brussels.

Nigeria and Uganda have toughened anti-gay laws this year.

Their presidents - Goodluck Jonathan and Yoweri Museveni - are at the summit, which is discussing ways to strengthen relations between the EU and Africa.

Homosexual acts are illegal in most African countries, where homosexuality is often seen as "evil" and "abnormal".

Mr Di Rupo is Europe's second openly gay government leader, after Iceland's Prime Minister Johanna Sigurdardottir.

"We cannot tolerate that some are denied their rights and persecuted for their origins, their sexual orientation, their religion and their convictions," he said on Wednesday, at a welcome dinner for some 80 leaders.

Mr Museveni and Mr Jonathan have not responded to his comments.

Source: BBC