Cameroon newspapers publish lists to 'out' gays

YAOUNDE - Tabloid newspapers in Cameroon have started publishing lists and photos of allegedly gay politicians, businessmen and musicians in what their editors say is a crusade against "deviant behaviour".

Street vendors have been forced to sell photocopies of the latest edition of weekly tabloid L'Anecdote, which sold out within hours earlier this week after publishing the latest list of more than 50 names, including senior government officials.

"Men making love to other men ... is filthy. It may be normal in the West, but in Africa and Cameroon in particular, it is unthinkable," L'Anecdote's publisher, Jean Pierre Amougou Belinga, told Reuters.

"We could not remain silent. We had to ring the alarm bell. We don't regret it and we have to do it again ... in spite of numerous death threats me and my journalists have had."

Homosexuality is outlawed in many countries across Africa, including Cameroon, and is often publicly condemned as "un-African". In some traditional beliefs, homosexuals are said to be cursed or bewitched.

Same-sex intercourse carries a penalty of six months to five years in prison and fines of up to US$370 ($547) under Cameroonian law.

South Africa is set to become the first African country to legalise same-sex marriage after its top court ruled in December it was unconstitutional to deny gay people the right to marry.

Another tabloid, La Meteo, launched the campaign to 'out' gays in Cameroon last month, publishing a frontpage headline "Homosexuality at the top hierarchy of government" and a three-page dossier naming government ministers and local musicians.

Communications Minister Pierre Moukoko Mbonjo, who is among those to have been named, has threatened legal action and told Cameroon's media they risked breaking up families.

"Whether it is heterosexual or homosexual, sexual intercourse takes place in an intimate environment between two persons," he told media executives in a speech last month.

- REUTERS