{"id":200524,"date":"2019-12-24T06:26:16","date_gmt":"2019-12-24T06:26:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/u-s-recalls-its-ambassador-to-zambia-after-gay-rights-row-sources.html"},"modified":"2019-12-24T06:26:16","modified_gmt":"2019-12-24T06:26:16","slug":"u-s-recalls-its-ambassador-to-zambia-after-gay-rights-row-sources","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/political\/u-s-recalls-its-ambassador-to-zambia-after-gay-rights-row-sources.html","title":{"rendered":"U.S. recalls its ambassador to Zambia after gay rights row: sources"},"content":{"rendered":"

LUSAKA\/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States has withdrawn its ambassador to Zambia following a row with authorities in the southern African nation after he criticized the jailing of a gay couple, embassy sources said on Monday. <\/p>\n

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A spokesperson for the U.S. State Department said Washington is \u201cdismayed\u201d by the Zambian government\u2019s statement that <\/p>\n

Ambassador Daniel Foote\u2019s position \u201cis no longer tenable.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cDespite this action, the United States remains committed to our partnership with the Zambian people,\u201d the spokesperson said. \u201cWe seek an open and frank relationship of mutual respect, commensurate with the generous aid provided to the Zambian people by the United States.\u201d <\/p>\n

Zambia\u2019s high court last month jailed the male gay couple for 15 years for engaging in sexual relations \u201cagainst the order of nature\u201d, a decision the U.S. ambassador said was horrifying. <\/p>\n

President Edgar Lungu said on Dec. 15 that Zambia, a major beneficiary of U.S. aid, had sent a protest letter to Washington over the remarks by Foote and was awaiting a response. <\/p>\n

A U.S. embassy source who is not allowed to issue statements told Reuters that Washington had decided to recall its ambassador because it was difficult for him to work in Zambia. <\/p>\n

\u201cSince Lungu says he does not want to work with Foote, there was no point of him remaining. Also don\u2019t forget that there are security issues so Washington want their man back,\u201d the source said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe U.S. cannot be paying a salary to someone who cannot work because the hosts don\u2019t want him,\u201d a second U.S. embassy source said. <\/p>\n

Zambia\u2019s foreign affairs ministry did not respond to a request for comment. <\/p>\n

Zambia receives hundreds of millions of dollars every year in financial support from the United States, some of which goes toward fighting HIV\/AIDS. <\/p>\n

African countries have some of the world\u2019s most prohibitive laws governing homosexuality. Same-sex relationships are considered taboo and gay sex is a crime across most of the continent, with punishments ranging from imprisonment to death. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe United States firmly opposes abuses against LGBTI persons. Governments have an obligation to ensure that all people can freely enjoy the universal human rights and fundamental freedoms to which they are entitled,\u201d the State Department spokesperson said. <\/p>\n

Additional reporting by Humeyra Pamuk in Washington; Reporting by Chris Mfula; Editing by Ed Osmond and Alistair Bell<\/p>\n

Article source: http:\/\/feeds.reuters.com\/~r\/Reuters\/PoliticsNews\/~3\/q_Pm_HYVT7U\/u-s-recalls-its-ambassador-to-zambia-after-gay-rights-row-sources-idUSKBN1YR1S2<\/a>\r\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LUSAKA\/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States has withdrawn its ambassador to Zambia following a row with authorities in the southern African nation after he criticized the jailing of a gay couple, embassy sources said on Monday. A spokesperson for the U.S. State Department said Washington is \u201cdismayed\u201d by the Zambian government\u2019s statement that Ambassador Daniel […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[84],"class_list":["post-200524","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-political","tag-political"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200524","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=200524"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200524\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=200524"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=200524"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=200524"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}