'Tight trouser official' sacked
2008-10-11 14:03
Juba - A senior official in South
Sudan who ordered a crackdown on young women wearing tight
trousers has been sacked, officials said on Saturday.
Police arrested scores of women - many on their way home
from church - in the capital Juba last week on charges of
disturbing the peace. Officers said their choice of clothing
proved they belonged to youth gangs.
Police acted after Juba county commissioner Albert Pitia
Redentore banned any public display of gang behaviour that, he
said, threatened traditional values.
A government statement said Redentore was removed form
office by President Salva Kiir on Friday.
Gender minister Mary Kiden said the crackdown was
unconstitutional and reminded her of the restrictions on women's dress enforced in the Muslim north of the country.
South Sudan fought the north in a two-decade war that was
partly fuelled by resistance to the north's Islamic Sharia law.
- Reuters