United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has urged African leaders to respect gay rights

Discrimination based on sexual orientation had been ignored or even sanctioned by many states for too long, Ban told an African Union summit. Homosexuality is illegal in many African countries - a situation which has drawn increasing criticism from activists and the West. Homosexual acts are illegal in most African countries, including key Western allies such as Uganda, Nigeria, Kenya, Egypt and Botswana. Both the United States and Britain have recently warned that they would use foreign aid to push for homosexuality to be decriminalised on the African continent.