By Ebi Kesiena
Ethiopian authorities has disclosed that the government is clamping down on gay sexual activities, particularly in hotels, bars, and entertainment joints in the capital city, Addis Ababa.
In a statement, a government organisation, the Addis Ababa Peace and Security Administration Bureau, said it was acting against institutions where homosexual acts are being carried out.
As the bureau also called on people to report the abominable acts to police, and promised to intensify efforts at clamping down on places that are reported to engage in such acts.
Posted on Facebook, the bureau noted that it had already raided a guest house in Addis Ababa following a tipoff and its manager had been arrested.
‘‘As a government body we will continue to crack down on such abominable acts, which are despised by God and man, in cooperation with the police,” it said.
Gay sex is illegal for both men and women in Ethiopia, Africa’s second most populous country, and some offenses can carry a punishment of up to 15 years in prison.
LGBTQ activist group The House of Guramayle said there had been an escalation in attacks against people in Ethiopia “based on their real or perceived sexual orientation and gender identity.”
Ethiopians believe LBGTQ is a “Western distortion of their cultural values.”
Additionally, there is a widely held perception that homosexual men are culpable for the asserted HIV/AIDS outbreak in the nation.
According to the findings of the 2007 Pew Global Attitudes Project, 97 percent of Ethiopians regard homosexuality as an unacceptable way of life, positioning Ethiopia as having the second-highest rate of non-acceptance among the 45 countries surveyed.
