>
Mozambique has legalized homosexuality making it one of a few African countries where same-sex relationships are legal.
The country recently decriminalized same-sex relationships after revising a colonial era penal code which had listed homosexuality as one of the “vices against nature”.
“I am sure that African countries will look at their old laws and see that this is an important step to guarantee that society is free and equal,” Danilo Da Silva, head of the Mozambican gay rights group Lambda, told BBC News.
British human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell was quoted as saying: “It’s a wonderful development amid the often regressive anti-gay measures being taken by some other African countries like Nigeria, Cameroon, Uganda and the Gambia.
“The decriminalisation is the result of long patient lobbying by Mozambican LGBT activists and their African allies. This is the first step towards wider legal protection for LGBT people in Mozambique and for LGBT organisations to receive formal recognition and consultative status with government.”
Same-sex relations are illegal in 36 of Africa’s 54 countries, while same-sex sexual activity is punishable in Sudan, Nigeria and Mauritania.