Circumcision gran sparks fury

2004-08-20 22:12

Ouagadougou - The arrest this week in Burkina Faso of a 63-year-old woman accused of circumcising 16 young girls has brought home to many that genital mutilation is still widespread, despite being outlawed eight years ago.

Adama Berry was arrested on Monday in an Ouagadougou suburb after an anonymous phone call alerted the country's anti-excision watchdog to the illegal mass circumcision.

"Every generation has its problems; ours are finding a good job and making a good marriage," added Kadi, a medical student. "It should not be circumcision!"

Since 1996, when Burkina Faso formally declared genital mutilation illegal, the number of excisions done has fallen sharply, from a prevalence rate of 66% to 40%, according to the national watchdog group, the CNLPE.

But despite the decrease in numbers, the children going under the knife are younger and younger, according to World Health Organisation statistics.

Operations done in driving rain

In some cases, girls not even a year old are brought to practitioners like Barry, often by their grandmothers.

One enraged mother said: "It's the custom here. The grandmothers decide to have the girls circumcised. We have no rights over our children."

Her daughter was among those rushed to hospital after the mass excision by Barry in the courtyard of a home in Tanghin.

Barry, who has been arrested six times for performing genital mutilations, lay the girls on the ground and sliced off parts of their genitalia under driving rain.

One neighbor said the excisions were carried out "in the backyard, where they usually kill chickens."

"When we arrived at 09:00, there was blood and dirt everywhere," said Antoine Sanou of the CNLPE.

A gynaecologist at the clinic where the girls were taken afterwards said: "Fifteen of the girls had all or part of their clitoris removed. The two-year-old had her clitoris and labia cut off."

Hasn't been paid yet, she tells TV

Appearing on television this week, Barry pleaded for leniency.

"I know it is illegal, I was just trying to be helpful," said the 63-year-old woman tearfully, noting that she had yet to receive payment from each of the families.

She said the girls had been brought to her by their grandmothers, who also supplied her with the blades used for the excisions.

CNLPE leader Hortense Palm said the group would ask for Barry to receive the maximum penalty of three years in jail and a fine of 900 000 CFA francs.

- AFP