'Women die of this'
2006-04-04 10:42
Khartoum - Ilham could not hold back the tears as she recounted how her six-year-old sister Eglal bled to death under the knife of a traditional midwife circumcising her, even though it happened way back in 1980.
Twenty-six years later, young girls in the poverty-stricken African country - ruled by an Islamist regime since a 1989 coup - are still subjected to this ancient tradition, branded by human rights organisations as "female genital mutilation or cutting" (FGM/C).
On December 6, four-year-old Inaam Abdul Wahab died of severe infections. But when a diligent doctor insisted on performing an autopsy it appeared that she was also subjected to FGM.
The faces of Eglal and Inaam have now become the symbols of a campaign against female circumcision, led mostly by women who have undergone FGM themselves.
"It was a collective circumcision performed on my three younger sisters, one after the other ... Some five women held tight Eglal's limbs and head, nailing her to a table," said Ilham, who was only nine at the time.
Never stopped bleeding
Eglal never stopped bleeding.
Ilham said her sisters were being subjected to infibulation, which is known as Pharaonic circumcision - the severest of three types of FGM, It involves the removal of genitalia and closure of the vaginal opening by stitching.
Around 82% of women in Sudan whose population is estimated at 40 million have undergone infibulation, while the total percentage of women who have undergone any form of FGM is over 90%, said a 2004 study by the UN children's fund Unicef.
The two other forms include the clitoridectomy, which involves full or partial amputation of the clitoris, and the "intermediate", which takes away the clitoris and a portion or all of the inner vaginal lips.
Under an Islamic guise, clitoridectomy is referred to also as Sunnah (tradition of the Prophet Muhammad) circumcision. But surprisingly, more Christians in Sudan practice the Sunnah method than Muslims.
Unicef statistics show that the Sunnah method prevalence is 46% among Christians compared to 27% among Muslims, who appear to opt for the severest method, as 83% of them have undergone the Pharaonic way.
But women rights activists want all FGM types banned.
High death rate
"We are against this practice in total, and not just the Pharaonic method. Women die of all (FGM) types," said activist Nahed Jabrallah, who is a member of the Sudanese Network for the Abolition of Female Genital Mutilation (SUNAF), formed in 2002.
"We have the highest rate of birth deaths for women at 509 deaths in every 100 000 cases," she told AFP, pointing out that most circumcised women face birth complications which sometimes lead to death.
Anti-FGM activists point out that women miss out on a vital part of their sexual life because of the tradition that is practiced in 28 African countries.
"A circumcised woman does not ever reach full sexual satisfaction," Jabrallah charged.
She added that infibulation - which involves stitching the vaginal opening except for a small hole for discharge of urine and menstrual blood - causes agonising pain for women during sexual intercourse and giving birth.
- AFP