Senegalese Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko on Friday accused the West of attempting to impose homosexuality on the country, describing it as “a kind of tyranny.”

While addressing the National Assembly, Mr Sonko defended the newly enacted anti-LGBTQ law signed late March by President Bassirou Faye.

“There is a kind of tyranny,” said Mr Sonko. 

“There are eight billion human beings in the world, but there is a small nucleus called the West which, because it has resources and controls the media, wants to impose it [homosexuality] on the rest of the world.”

The new law, which came into effect in March 2026, increased prison sentences for what Mr Sonko described as “acts against nature” from five to 10 years.

It also prohibits the “glorification” and funding of homosexuality, bisexuality, and transsexuality, with separate prison sentences for each offender. Individuals making false allegations under the law face prison terms of three to seven years.

Human rights activists and international organisations, including the United Nations, criticised the legislation. The European Union and several Western governments have also in the past criticised laws criminalising same-sex acts.

On March 12, UN rights chief Volker Turk urged Mr Faye not to enact the law, saying it “exposes people to hate crimes, abuse, arbitrary arrests, blackmail, and widespread discrimination.”

Human Rights Watch also described it as a “violation of multiple internationally protected rights, including equality and non-discrimination.”

Before the law was enacted, 12 individuals were arrested for allegedly engaging in same-sex acts in the capital, Dakar.