Newborn dies after clandestine female genital mutilation in Senegal
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Senego and Seneweb
A baby girl of a few days old died in Sadatou, in the Tambacounda region, after being excised and infibulated without her knowledge, according to Senego. Two women, including the baby’s paternal grandmother, are in police custody, and the Dianké Makha gendarmerie is investigating female genital mutilation followed by death.
Born on 11 November at the Sadatou health post, the baby girl was referred on 13 November to the Dianké Makha health district, then died around 11 p.m. during her transfer to the Tambacounda regional hospital, according to Senego.
Back at the family home, the paternal grandmother, Doussou Kanté, 85, wanted to bathe the baby. She was assisted by Maïmouna Kanté, a condiment seller born in 1975, who held the child while the two women performed the excision and infibulation with a blade. To give birth, the mother, Mariama Kanté, had stayed in Sadatou, at her brother-in-law’s home.
The following day, around 5 p.m., the mother saw her child writhing in pain. The family first tried makeshift treatments, using perfume and laundry blue, before taking the baby back to the health post. The two women are in police custody, the Dianké Makha gendarmerie brigade having arrested them. The investigation concerns "female genital mutilation resulting in death".
