Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe has called British Prime Minister David Cameron "satanic" for his support of gay rights, in a speech railing at Western influence in the country, state media said Thursday. "It becomes worse and satanic when you get a prime minister like Cameron saying countries that want British aid should accept homosexuality," Mugabe said Wednesday, according to the state-run Herald newspaper.
"To come with that diabolic suggestion to our people is a stupid offer," he said. At the end of the Commonwealth summit in October, Cameron said that countries receiving British aid should respect human rights, including gay rights.
A spokeswoman from Cameron's Downing Street office would not comment directly on Mugabe's remarks but said Britain "is at the forefront of work to promote human rights around the world, and regularly criticises governments which violate those rights. "This includes working to end religious intolerance, and persecution and discrimination against individuals on the basis of their sexuality," she said in a statement.