President of Gambia, Yahya Jammeh, yesterday suggested that gay people in his country need to exterminated like mosquitoes.

In a speech, he also added that the thinks the initialism LGBT actually stands for “leprosy, gonorrhoea, bacteria and tuberculosis.”

Reuters reports that Jammeh made a speech on state television to mark the 49th anniversary of Gambia’s independence from Britain. He said, ”We will fight these vermins called homosexuals, or gays, the same way we are fighting malaria-causing mosquitoes, if not more aggressively….  We will therefore not accept any friendship, aid or any other gesture that is conditional on accepting homosexuals or LGBT as they are now baptised by the powers that promote them.

“As far as I am concerned, LGBT can only stand for Leprosy, Gonorrhoea, Bacteria and Tuberculosis; all of which are detrimental to human existence.”

In Gambia, same-sex relationships have no legal recognition. Homosexual acts are punishable by up the 14 years in prison.

Jammeh has had a long vendetta against the LGBT community in his country. In 2008, he announced that his government would be introducing legislation that would set laws against gay people that would be “stricter than those in Iran”. He added that he would “cut off the head” of any gay or lesbian person discovered in Gambia.