Six months’ jail for female circumcisers in Senegal
The News Review:
- Six months’ jail for female circumcisers in Senegal
- Madagascar interim leader meets Senegal’s Wade
- Skin lightening creams a problem in Senegal
Six months’ jail for female circumcisers in Senegal
AFP
The court in Matam 680 kilometres (425 miles) north of Dakar handed down the sentences to a traditional female circumciser and the 16-month-old girl’s grandmother while her parents were given six-month suspended sentences Raddho’s local representative said. The grandmother got a harsher sentence than the parents as she was the one who took the girl to be circumcised he added. The practice has been forbidden in Senegal since 1999 when Senegal adopted a law to ban female circumcision also known as female genital mutilation (FGM). Since then many villages have signed pledges to ban female circumcision but the Matam case stirred controversy with local Muslim religious leaders defending female circumcision as part of their tradition. n Thursday morning clashes broke out between religious protesters and local police according to the RFM radio station. The demonstrators threw rocks at the police who used teargas to break up the protest the station added. The circumcision of the girl from the village of urossogui close to Matam was reported to the police by a Raddho representative.
Madagascar interim leader meets Senegal’s Wade
AFP
“I leave here with a feeling of relief. the situation (in Madagascar) has been made clear” Rajoelina was quoted as telling reporters by the Senegalese APS press agency.
Skin lightening creams a problem in Senegal
AFP
Without her it would have been difficult” she said. “My friend showed me magazines with pictures of women who were suffering from the effects of the creams I saw the pictures and told myself I really have to stop. “The creams are notably popular in Senegal’s bustling capital of Dakar. At the Sandaga open air market in the city’s center vendors say they daily sell entire cartons of potions with names like X-White and Clear and White. Mounass 21 dressed in a hot-pink T-shirt and tight pants browsed the stands to pick up a new supply. She slathers herself in lightening cream twice a day and each month spends some 40000 CFA francs more than the Senegalese minimum wage on the products “because men prefer women with fairer skin”.
Related from Acnemonster: Top Skin Conditions Facing People of Color
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