Handover of circumcision tools praised Opponents of female circumcision in Guinea have welcomed the decision by hundreds of women who circumcised young girls to hand in their special ceremonial knives. State radio said the handing-in took place at a weekend ceremony in Korosa, a town in the east of the former French colony. A spokeswoman for the campaign to end female circumcision in Guinea, Haja Wudu Barrie, told state radio, monitored by the Reuters news agency, that the gesture was a breakthrough after 14 years of campaigning. The campaign in Guinea against the practice, seen by many West African families as a rite of passage on the way to womanhood, is one of many in the region. Some of the Guinean women, using financial help from opponents of the practice, have turned themselves from a secret society keeping the practice alive into a group dedicated to its abolition.
Opponents denounce the practice as a health risk and a violation of human rights.
Senegal has banned the practice outright and at least one case has gone to court. It is known to be a very painful practice that sometimes leads to excessive bleeding, infection, trauma and difficulties in childbirth. But campaigners are finding it difficult to stamp out. A human rights group in Tanzania says the practice is on the increase in that country despite government attempts to ban it. The Tanzanian group is now trying to promote a compromise experiment amongst the Maasai, where the circumcision ceremony is celebrated but the actual circumcision is not carried out.