Kenya will take measures to stop female genital mutilation, Minister for Home Affairs Katana Ngala said last week.

"It is the government's stand that female genital mutilation is illegal," he said. "However, we must realize that it will not be easy to eliminate it since it has been practiced for so long" (Nairobi Daily Nation, 25 Jul).

Senegalese Villagers Fight To End Female Circumcision

In Senegal, 178 villages have successfully ended the practice of genital mutilation -- a significant number, according to the Johannesburg Daily Mail & Guardian.

A US-Senegalese nongovernmental organization, Tostan, has carried out a long-term educational campaign backed by UNICEF. The group implements programs for women from a health angle, to avoid confronting tradition.

Although the practice has been illegal since 1998, when a law was passed making it a punishable offence, it persists due to traditions that equate it with female virtue and honor (Roland-Pierre Paringaux, Johannesburg Daily Mail & Guardian, 31 Jul).