Zambia’s Foreign Affairs Minister Gabriel Namulambe reaffirmed the country’s official stance on homosexuality following a meeting with Shannon Smith, of the US Bureau of African Affairs.

After the meeting, Namulambe made the following comments to journalists: “I want to make it very clear here that as Government, we have the Constitution to protect and in the preamble of our Constitution, Zambia is a Christian Nation and as such we live by the Christian values and we will not be able to recognise gay rights.

“This is because it is untraditional to our culture, and we have appealed to our colleagues to respect our stance that as Zambians, we shall remain a Christian Nation.”

Homosexuality is illegal for both men and women in Zambia. Five men have been arrested under Zambia’s anti-sodomy laws in the last year. Two men who were arrested for having sex ‘against the order of nature’ last May remain imprisoned awaiting a verdict from their trial.