THE NEW CODE OF THE FAMILY SPARKS ROW- MALI

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MALI – 09 September 2009: The president of Mali, Amadou Toumani Touré, has succumbed to pressure from religious leaders to challenge the new Code of People and the Family adopted on the 03 August which is rumored to enshrine homosexuality.

Religious leaders argue that many dispositions of the new code are in conflict with the values of Islam, the religion of more than 90% of Malians.

They also contest the section 508 to 512 dealing with adoption and filiations as they say could give right to gay people to adopt children.

The president of the Islamic High Council of Mali (IHCM), Imam Mahmoud Dicko denounced in a virulent speech the new code, which according to him “open the door to all kind of perversions, allow homosexuals and others predators of ours habits, costumes and religion to exist and homosexuals to come and take Malian children.”

“It is a great offence that we would not understand or tolerate to say the least,” he added.

Religious leaders and many Malians oppose the section 3 of the new Code of the People and the Family that states “nobody can be discriminated against because of his/her genetic characteristics,” which they consider as recognition of homosexuality.

They contested among others, the fact that the new code does not recognize religious marriages and the withdrawal of the duty of obedience for women to theirs husbands as stipulated in the previous code.

According to several reports, more than 50000 people attended the meetings organized on the 15 and the 22 August 2009 by the (IHCM) to say “no” to the new Code; many of them were carrying banners stating “the woman remains the woman, and the man remains the man” or “the western civilization is a sin”.

Imam Dacko took advantage of the opportunity to thank all the Muslim of Mali for “their mobilization against this satanic code that flout religious and traditional values.”

The president was supposed to promulgate this code next week, but face to the pressure, he decided to send it back to the parliament for a second discussion, despite the fact that it was passed with a large majority by the deputies.