First female circumcision arrests made

Senegalese police have arrested the mother and grandmother of a five-year old girl for ordering her circumcision, in the first case of its kind since a new law was passed in February outlawing the practice, the state-owned daily 'Le Soleil' reported on Thursday. Following a complaint by the girl's father, the two women were arrested in Tambacounda, some 450 km east of the capital Dakar. The woman who carried out the circumcision was still on the run, the newspaper said. The new law bans female circumcision and other forms of sexual mutilation and the penalties range from six months to five years in prison, `Le Soleil' reported. However, local sources said there was widespread belief in the region of Tambacounda that a non-circumcised woman or girl was a social outcast, `Le Soleil' reported. Opponents of the practice say it is an infringement of human rights.