[MAIL] A senior U.S. State Department official criticized the government of Zambia on Thursday after the Trump administration called its ambassador back to Washington amid a fight over gay rights.Zambia's high court sentenced two men this month to 15 years in prison for engaging in a sexual relationship 'against the order of nature,' a euphemism for gay sex.
Ambassador Daniel Foote was openly critical of Edgar Lungu's government in Lusaka, saying he was 'personally horrified' by the imprisonment. Lungu shoved back publicly, saying he wanted Foote to leave.
'We don’t want such people in our midst. We want him gone,' Lungu said in a public speech at a revival tent-style church fundraiser, broadcast by the state-owned TV network ZNBC. He also thanked churches in Zambia 'for voicing out against unchristian values such as homosexuality.'
Tibor Nagy, the Assistant U.S. Secretary of State for African Affairs, tweeted Thursday that he was '[d]ismayed by the Zambian government’s decision requiring our Ambassador Daniel Foote’s departure from the country.'