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Gambia president to United Nations: Homosexuality top global threat

Gambia president to United Nations: Homosexuality top global threat

UNITED NATIONS — The president of Gambia is using his address to the United Nations General Assembly to attack gays and lesbians, calling homosexuality one of the three “biggest threats to human existence.”

Gambia
Andrew Burton, AP (Pool)
Gambian President Yahya Jammeh addresses the 68th United Nations General Assembly on Friday Sept. 27, 2013 at U.N. headquarters.

President Yahya Jammeh on Friday said homosexuality, greed and obsession with world domination “are more deadly than all natural disasters put together.”

It’s not the first time the Gambian ruler has used such harsh words. In 2008, he told gays and lesbians to leave the country or have their heads cut off.

Jammeh also has drawn international criticism for his claim he can cure AIDS with an herbal body rub and bananas.

He first took power in the tiny West African country after a 1994 coup.

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