Four female journalists in Sierra Leone have been subjected to an extraordinary attack. They were abducted by a group which supports female genital mutilation (FGM), forced to strip and then marched through the streets.
The women were accused of reporting on an anti-FGM campaign last Friday, the international day of zero tolerance for female circumcision.
Witnesses to the incident in the eastern city of Kenema said the four were abducted by members of the Bondo society, a secret society of women that traditionally carries out circumcision as part of initiation rites.
The head of the Bondo society, Haja Massah Kaisamba, said the journalists were taken into "our custody because they spoke unfavourably on radio against FGM".
Police and human rights organisations eventually intervened to set the women free. One of them, Manja Balama-Samba, who works for the Sierra Leone Broadcasting Service (SLBS) and United Nations Radio, said: "We were only undertaking a reporting assignment and have no hand in any campaign."
The others were Henrietta Kpaka, also of SLBS, Isha Jalloh and Jenneh Brima, both of Eastern Radio.
Secret societies have a lot of influence in Sierra Leone and politicians are reluctant to speak out against FGM for fear of losing votes.
The government did say early last year that it would ban the practice of circumcision, but has done nothing to date. According to United Nations figures, 94% of women aged 15-49 in Sierra Leone suffer FGM.
(Sources: Standard Times/IOL/Sapa-AFP)
