KENYA: FGM falsely touted as a panacea for HIV

Photo: IRIN

Can FGM prevent HIV?

KISII, 27 January 2009 (PlusNews) – Priscilla Bosibori, now 17, was 14 when an aunt fetched her from her school in Kisii, western Kenya, on the pretext of taking her to an important family function. Once they had left the school grounds, her aunt said her family had found a way of protecting her from HIV.

Bosibori arrived home to a welcome of songs and dances by female members of her family before being placed in a room with other girls her age.

“Immediately I knew that I was about to be circumcised and I was shocked that even my mother, who had all along resisted my father’s attempts to have me cut, was convincing me that this would be the best way to protect myself from getting infected with HIV,” she told IRIN/PlusNews.

Proponents of female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) in Kisii, where the practice is widespread, claim that the removal of part of the clitoris reduces a woman’s sexual desire and the likelihood that she will have several sexual partners, thus reducing her chances of contracting the virus.

“When you are cut as a woman, you do not become promiscuous and it means you cannot get infected by HIV; even our men want circumcised girls who will not turn out to be prostitutes,” said Grace Kemunto, a traditional circumciser.

According to local residents, a campaign by the government and NGOs to end the practice has made people like Kemunto even more aggressive in their efforts to keep FGM/C alive. The practice goes against Ministry of Health policy and also contravenes the Kenya Children’s Act of 2001, which outlaws FGM/C of girls under the age of 18.

“I do not know where this idea of female genital mutilation being a remedy to HIV infection originated, but it is a strong belief here,” said Jacqueline Mogaka, an anti-FGM/C campaigner in the area. “Young girls are now even voluntarily turning up for the cut because of this belief … the proponents of this practice will die fighting.”

An estimated 97 percent of girls in Kisii undergo circumcision, usually when they are teenagers but sometimes while still prepubescent.

A false premise

Anti-FGM/C campaigners in the region say the argument used by people like Kemunto is extremely harmful, particularly since it assumes that girls and women are in control of their sex lives, which is not true of most women in Kisii.

When you are cut as a woman, you do not become promiscuous and it means you cannot get infected by HIV

According to the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey of 2003, in the rural areas of Nyanza Province, where Kisii is located, an estimated nine percent of girls are married by the age of 15, while 53 percent are married by the age of 19.

Many of these girls and young women marry older men and have little say in the marriage. Women in Nyanza are also much more likely to report physical and sexual violence than those in other parts of Kenya.

The notion that FGM/C reduces sexual desire has been challenged by researchers, who found that girls who undergo the practice do not show any significant difference in sexual desire compared to those who are uncircumcised.

Dorothy Onyancha is convinced that her 12-year-old daughter contracted HIV when she was secretly taken by her father to a traditional circumciser. “The father lied to her that if she is cut she will be free from HIV,” she said.

“She is now HIV-positive and I know she got it from the practice because she confided to me that the woman who cut them used one knife to circumcise 15 of them,” Onyancha said. “Now I take care of her alone, yet the father does not even care … he cares more about his pride of having a circumcised daughter.” One of the girls later died from excessive bleeding.

FGM/C increases a woman’s risk of HIV primarily through the use of a single blade to cut several girls during traditional circumcision. There is also an increased risk of haemorrhage, leading to a greater likelihood of blood transfusions becoming necessary during circumcision, at childbirth, or as a result of vaginal tearing during sexual intercourse, with an even higher risk in areas where a safe blood supply cannot be guaranteed.

“How can one claim to be reducing HIV by practicing female genital mutilation when we know one knife can be used to circumcise up to 10 girls or even more?” asked Dr Erick Abunga, the Kisii District medical officer of health.

Prohibited but still widespread

Kisii District Commissioner Benjamin Njoroge said the practice was difficult to eradicate because families now did it secretly for fear of legal repercussions, and those who dared to talk about it were silenced by the community.

The fight against FGM/C in Kisii had made some progress by using the argument that traditional methods increased the risk of HIV, but lately nurses and midwives had been carrying out circumcisions.

Anti-FGM/C campaigners said this was common, even though it was illegal, and was now holding back the fight against FGM/C because the practice was no longer associated with a fear of HIV.

Nyanza province has the highest level of HIV in the country – 15.3 percent – compared to a national average of 7.4 percent.

ko/kr/kn/he source. www.irinnews.org

<Report Leo Odera Omolo.

A large contingents of policemen and other security personnel have been deployed along the boarder of South Narok and Bomet districts to stop fighting between the Kipsigis and the Maasai communities.

The security men work dispatched to the region at the weekend and managed to quell the clashes that had lasted for two weeks.

Two ODM legislators Nkoidila Ole Lankas (Narok South) Isaac Ruto Chepalungu had asked the government to bring the communal clashes in the area to an immediate end.

Another leader who added his weight to the on-going  armed conflict between the two neighbouring communities is the KANU Secretary General Nick Salat who appealed to the warring communities  to live in peace and harmony

.

Salat a former KANU MP asked the government and the elders from the two communities to hold a reconciliation meeting  in order to have the feuds sorted out immediately. Such skirmishes usually retards development, he said.

The clashes were also conformed by the area DC Ferdinand Otwani who said the security often had intention night patrol in the affected areas.

“We are also organizing reconciliation meeting between the two communities”

Tribal clashes are so common in this part of the country  Rift region, and the main source of such belligerency is cattle rustling and land dispute.

The latest clashes come barely a week after civic leaders had organized Public demonstration protesting about the settlement of Kalenjin speakers in the water catchments of Mau forest and valued to evict the settlers by using crude means and weapon should the government fail to do so.

At the same time the government early this week moved to source the controversial Mau Forest Complex fro further destruction and influx of illegal settlers.

The Kenya Forest Service (KFS) and the Narok County Council have formerly deployed forest rangers guards into the forest to mock further settlements to stop charcoal burners from felling tree indiscriminately.

The Deputy Forest Director Emelio Mugo confirmed the reports adding “we want to make , give that people do not take advantage to destroy the forest further to settle inside,”

The latest move follows fears that persist in the area that people may be moving into the forest hoping to benefit from government compensation.

Mugo said the government would protect the 400,000 hectored Mau Forest Complex from the intruders until a task force on the forest completes work and make recommendation.

The Prime Minister Raila Odinga last month extended the mandate and direction of the task force, which he had appointed to work into the detailed acuse and aspect of eviction of illegal settlers by three months.

Raila appointed the task force last year after some Rift valley leaders and MPs even opposed attempt by the government to evict more than 20,000 families of settlers from the forest.

Mugo said the task force would determine the true forest boundaries of the forest in order to secure the protested area.

Ends

leooderaomolo@yahoo.com

<Report Leo Odera Omolo

The 10 year East Community (EAC) Treaty is currently undergoing overhauling process in order to make the regional economic bloc more effective in the face of new challenges and expectations.

The community’s secretariat and its Council of Legal and judicial Affairs  kick started the process at a meeting held in Kenya’s coastal port only of Mombassa last weekend.

Head of the corporate Communications and Public Affairs of the EAC, Magaga  A lot said the review of the Treaty  is intended to make the community a more effective organization.

The secretarial council is made up of Ministers of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, Attorney General of the EAC member Countries, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi.

Mr Alot said in addition to considering amendment of the treaty, the council would consider proposal for amendment of rules of procedure for the summit of Heads of state, council of Minister and the coordinator committee.

He further explained in a statement that amendments of the rules of procedure are intended to enhance decision making processes and delivery of the regional agenda.

The Mombasa review meeting  follow an order by the East African carried of Justice last year the East African Community its Treaty and makes it  consistent with the spirit and intention of the revived regional economic bloc.

Making a ruling in an application in which four applicants were challenging the December 2006 Treaty amendment but the EAC summit and their subsequent adoption, a former judge bench said amendment did not anger well for the regional body’s, The treaty must assigned with the aspirations of the people on East Africa,” they added.

The amendment in questions were done on December 14, 2006 by the EAC Summit-which comprises the heads of states after the bloc lost a case  barring Kenya MPs nominated to the East African Legislative assembly from taking up their position.

Alot said the secretarial council would also handle an extensive agenda mainly concerned with regulation, proposal and acts governing the operation of the projects and programmes of the East African Countries.

Among those are Draft proposal for operational  the Extended Jurisdiction Draft regulation on working relations between the EAC directorate of custom Administrations and Draft by the end of next week.

A meeting of the high level task force is planned for this coming weekend in Kisumu to fine tune the protocol that weekend established a borderless regime to the people of East Africa.

The seventh round of the negotiations on the protocol to be held from January 29 to February 5, 2009 as a Kisumu Hotel was the opened by the Minister for the East African Affairs Jeftan Kingi.

According to a  press statement  release by the Ministry of East African Community the negotiations, which were concluded in April last year, are almost complete

“Ever go per cent of the negotiation have since been concluded by concerns among partner states”

Among the items that have been concluded are its objectives and principals establishment of goods, Capital and Services.

Other are the transport policy, completions and consumers welfare, economic and financials as sector policy coordination, common commercial policy and approximation of loans

However a few area still remain outstanding. They include residence permit, competition and consumer welfare common transport policy, interpretation of term used in draft protocol, common social policy and technology.

Ends

leooderaomolo@yahoo.com

SOMALIA: Baidoa capture puts pressure on TFG

Photo: Atosh/IRIN

The aftermath of an assassination attempt on Somalia’s former President, Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, in Baidoa in 2006 (file photo): The fall of Baidoa to Al-Shabab, an Islamist group, raises fresh questions about the viability of the Somali government

NAIROBI, 27 January 2009 (IRIN) – The fall of Baidoa in south-western Somalia to Al-Shabab, hours after Ethiopian troops left, raises fresh questions about the viability of the Somali government, a civil society analyst said.

Baidoa, seat of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG), fell to the Islamist group on 26 January. A number of people were killed and injured and families displaced.

“The fall of Baidoa calls into question the viability of the TFG,” the analyst said. “If they cannot defend the only town under their control, how can they hope to bring the rest of the country under their control?”

Baidoa fell as representatives of the TFG and a faction of the Eritrea-based Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia (ARS), led by Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, met in Djibouti to set up a new parliament and elect a president.

The two groups had in November reached a power-sharing deal to double the size of parliament from the current 275 members to 550 members. The meeting in Djibouti voted to seat the extra MPs, according to Abdirahman Abdishakur, the ARS chief negotiator.

The new MPs, he added, would be sworn in “within a day or two”, while the process of electing a new president would take “no more than a couple of days”.

However, a civil society analyst, who requested anonymity because of the volatile situation, posed the question: “Where will the new parliament go?”

The capture of Baidoa would also “bring Mogadishu under new and sustained pressure”, he said. “They may not be able to capture Mogadishu, but they will be able to apply pressure.”

In the past, the insurgents have captured towns and later abandoned them, but the capture of Baidoa signalled their ability to take advantage of any vacuum and expand their sphere of influence, he said.

The Al-Shabab met little resistance as they entered the town, local residents said. “At around 4:30pm local time yesterday, Al-Shabab forces entered and captured Baidao from the TFG. There was some resistance but not much,” Ali, a local resident, told IRIN.

Looting

Another local, who requested anonymity, said the group, which was camping on the outskirts of town, had entered after talks with community leaders and stopped looting.

“There was looting of the presidential compound and two other places but that came to an end as soon they came in,” he said. “There has been minimum displacement.”

A local journalist told IRIN the group captured but later released senior government officials, including transport minister Mohamed Ibrahim Habsade and Aden Saransoor, another former warlord and deputy director of the central bank.

“They have all left for Wajid where they are expected to fly out of the country,” he added.

Baidoa had been one of the few towns in the country completely controlled by the government and its Ethiopian allies, and therefore spared the violence witnessed daily in the capital, Mogadishu.

Somalia has been hard hit by a combination of conflict, drought and hyperinflation, creating a humanitarian crisis.

An estimated 3.5 million people need assistance while more than 16,000 civilians have been killed in the conflict between the Ethiopian-backed government and insurgents over the past two years.

ah/mw source.irinnews.org

SOUTH AFRICA: Motor city in neutral but lost jobs in overdrive

Photo: GMSA

General Motors production line

PORT ELIZABETH, 27 January 2009 (IRIN) – Tens of thousands of workers in South Africa’s automotive sector are facing unemployment as a consequence of the global economic slowdown.
 
Industry insiders are warning that if the 2008 trend of reduced demand continues through 2009, businesses would have to cut working hours and jobs to ensure their survival.

The automotive industry – one of the sectors used to gauge South Africa’s economic health – has been a cornerstone of more than decade of growth, with a government strategy envisioning vehicle production increasing to 1.2 million units annually by 2020 from the current level of about 500,000 units.
 
The sector accounts for about 10 percent of manufacturing exports and 7.5 percent of gross domestic product, making it a crucial weapon in combating South Africa’s unemployment rate, officially estimated at 24 percent.

General Motors South Africa (GMSA) retrenched more than 1,000 employees in January 2009, or more than a third of its local workforce, while in 2008 Ford retrenched 800 employees from its Port Elizabeth and Pretoria operations. 

The knock-on effect is putting at risk thousands more jobs in the components sector, which relies on the economic health of the car producers for its existence.
 
The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) – one of the country’s largest unions, boasting a membership of about 220,000 workers – will hold a two-day meeting, starting on 5 February, with industry representatives to discuss ways of ameliorating the effects of the downturn.

“The bad news comes in daily. Volkswagen has served their employees with a notice of retrenchments, and for every manufacturer who downscales production, their suppliers are also adversely affected,” Mphumzi Maqungo, NUMSA’s regional treasurer in the Eastern Cape Province, told IRIN.

“Here in Port Elizabeth we have heard that Welfit Oddy, which makes wheel rims, will also be letting 550 employees go soon, which is half the plant.” He said the union was receiving regular reports from shop stewards that companies were warning staff of the likelihood of retrenchments. 
 
No perks for the unemployed

“For the workers it is not only the salaries they lose but also the benefits, which in many cases are very important. Companies pay for medical aid and children’s school fees, which can amount to a lot of money. And what happens if you are HIV positive and you need the medical aid for your antiretroviral drugs?” he said. 
 

Companies pay for medical aid and children’s school fees, which can amount to a lot of money. And what happens if you are HIV positive and you need the medical aid for your antiretroviral drugs

“We feel the retrenchment packages are not enough in many cases, and that workers should not immediately accept them. We need to be discussing [with the companies] ways of saving jobs as well.”            
 
The latest industry figures released by South Africa’s National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of SA (NAAMSA) revealed huge declines in new vehicle sales.
 
Sales for December 2008 were 32,765 vehicles, a drop of 12,162 vehicles or 27.1 percent, compared to new vehicle sales of 44,927 units in December 2007. 
 
“On a market segment basis, vehicle sales during December 2008 (with the exception of the small volume bus sector) registered sharp declines in every segment relative to the corresponding month of December 2007,” NAAMSA said in a recent press statement.
  
Economic pressures were also being felt by car dealerships said Brand Pretorius, chief executive of the country’s biggest car dealership chain, McCarthy Motors.

“What we are experiencing has been brought on by a deterioration of vehicle affordability, due to a number of factors other than the global banking crisis,” he commented.

“The weakness of the rand is driving up the cost of raw materials and, by extension, the vehicles; and the National Credit Act [a stringent means test for prospective loan applicants] has meant many people are not getting access to the money they need to purchase cars,” he said. 
 
Car dealerships close

“The credit application approval from banks is disappointing at the moment – about 35 percent of people applying for credit are being approved, compared to 55 percent two years ago. I think it is a matter of trying to ride out the storm, as there is little the local industry can do.”
 
Pretorius believed the automotive sector was facing significant lay-offs in the coming months, as companies could not maintain the current number of employees if sales were to fall by between 25 and 35 percent.
 
“We have already had to close down branches in the last six to eight months – we used to have 148 branches but now we have cut back to 120,” he said.

“Many in the industry have made a number of mistakes over the past six months in terms of how we prepared for the downturn. The extent of it was underestimated, as was the speed at which it would happen.”       
 
GMSA President Steve Koch told IRIN that to ensure the company remained profitable – sales in 2008 were up 18 percent on 2007 – and competitive during the difficult time ahead, restructuring needed to take place. This would include securing retrenchments as well as streamlining production systems to increase productivity.
 
“We had 12,000 units of stock in July last year [2008] and we needed to reduce this to 3,000 to keep us in a positive cash-flow position. Fortunately we have done this, but if the industry was to decline further we would have to examine further options to reduce our head count. A big concern for us is the health of our distribution network [car dealerships].
 
“It has been indicated that 200 of the 1,700 dealerships here may fail or consolidate during the downturn, and we estimate 120 or so have already done so,” he said.  
 
According to Koch, the ongoing devaluation of the rand was a serious concern – it lost almost 50 percent of its value against the Japanese yen in 2008. “It takes 70 percent more rand today to acquire material in yen than it did at the beginning of last year [2008], and materials represent over 80 percent of the cost of a vehicle,” he said.

“With local materials making up only 40 percent of an automobile, imports remain a significant factor in cost structure. The net affect is a tremendous pressure on [profit] margins, which means the consumer can expect to see a 20 percent price increase this year [2009].”
 
Koch said the industry hoped 2010 would herald an economic recovery, but it was not a certainty. “If the First World global economies don’t find a solution to their economic problems, then I don’t see South Africa recovering either.” 
 
bc/go/he
source.www.irinnews.org

SUDAN: Warrap, Lakes states grappling with ethnic clashes

Photo: Jane Namurye/IRIN

Cattle rustling is one of the causes of sporadic clashes in Southern Sudan’s Warrap State (file photo)

JUBA, 27 January 2009 (IRIN) – Clashes in Southern Sudan’s Warrap state have left 41 people dead and displaced hundreds of others from their homes in the past two months, local officials said.

“The fighting has not stopped,” Wol Deng Atak, a deputy chairman of Warrap State parliamentary caucus, told IRIN in Juba on 27 January. “There is still sporadic fighting all over the state.”

A total of 24 people died in the past week alone, while 17 lost their lives in December. The latest fighting, he added, pitted the Dinka Lou community against the Apuuk. Other clashes occurred at the border between Warrap and Lakes State.

Atak cited cattle rustling as a key factor in the clashes. In December, for example, a cattle raid in Aliek left dozens wounded. There were also sporadic raids in Gogrial East.

The Warrap state parliamentary caucus is due to discuss the situation in an emergency meeting on 29 January, Atak said, adding that lawmakers from the area feared a possible escalation.

In a report to Parliament, the lawmakers who investigated conflicts in the state said hundreds had been displaced from the area in the past four months. In turn, Parliament has summoned the governor of the area to explain the conflicts, Atak added.

Aid deliveries

Aid workers confirmed the ongoing violence. An inter-agency assessment in Wulu County conducted on 25 January, after clashes between the Jur community and the Dinka, identified 325 displaced individuals scattered in the bush.

Wulu is south of Rumbek, capital of Lakes State. Further assessments, the UN said, were needed in three locations in the area.

The UN World Food Programme (WFP), Oxfam Great Britain and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) were due to deliver food and non-food aid to those affected on 27 January, according to the UN Resident Coordinator in Southern Sudan.

The latest clashes come four months after area chiefs discussed strategies to stop ethnic conflicts in Warrap. More than 100 chiefs met in September and formed a council to resolve inter-clan conflicts.

“There is something about Warrap [that] people do not understand,” Atak said. “The fighting has been going on too long, it has become a part of life.”

Meanwhile, clashes between the Agaar and Jur-bel communities of Lakes State have displaced hundreds of people, according to UN Radio Miraya.

Chan Majok, Western Bahr el Ghazal State Director for the Southern Sudan Relief and Rehabilitation Commission, told Miraya 170 people arrived in Wau Town on 22 January and were staying at Khor-mudir Basic School. Most were women and children.

The two Southern Sudanese states have a history of ethnic clashes. In May 2008, fighting erupted between the Aguok and Kuach Dinka ethnic groups and the Abuok in Warrap.

In April 2007, 95 people were killed and 45 wounded during clashes between the Luach-jiang of Warrap state and the Pakam of Lakes State. Agad Chol Mabuog, Lakes State information minister, blamed cattle raiders.

bdm/eo/mw source.www.irinnews.org