(Image source from: Zimbabwe President says)

The 91-year-old Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe President, reportedly said, "We are not gays!" in front of the general assembly at the United Nations podium on Monday evening.

Deviating from the prepared remarks, the comment was made by Mugabe as he criticized double standards of Western nations besides attempts to "prescribe 'new rights' that are contrary to our values, norms, traditions and beliefs."

Thus, Mugabe again attacked homosexuality in front of the general assembly. Zimbabwe’s leader frequently demonizes homosexuality and thus, the county has worst LGBT rights records in Africa. Homosexuals were described by Mugabe, who was in power since 1987, as, “worse than pigs, goats and birds" in 2013.

 

Zimbabwe's leader claimed that the states were not given "the right to some to sit in judgment over others" by the UN human rights charter. "In that regard, we reject the politicization of this important issue and the application of double standards to victimize those who dare think and act independently of the self-anointed prefects of our time," Mugabe said.

"We equally reject attempts to prescribe "new rights" that are contrary to our values, norms, traditions, and beliefs. We are not gays! Cooperation and respect for each other will advance the cause of human rights worldwide. Confrontation, vilification, and double-standards will not," Mugabe added.

The remarks follow state-sanction persecution towards homosexuality for decades. According to a Pew survey in 2013, the African continent was devastatingly intolerant of gay men and women. However, South Africans were notable exception.

-Sumana