BURAO, Somalia, June 19 (AFP) - The Female Genital Mutilation (FMG) of Somali women has increased the number of Sexually Transmitted Diseases and is a recipe for higher rates of HIV/AIDS in the country, a Somali gynaecologist warns.
"The genital cut on Somali girls between the age of seven and 10 is a dangerous exercise that has brought misery to the lives of Somali women, because beside the health risk, the mutilation traumatizes the young, compelled to follow the painful tradition," gynaecologist Hodan Farah told AFP at the general hospital in Burao.
Burao is located 280 kilometres (175 miles) east of Hargeisa, capital of the breakaway republic of Somaliland which declared independence from the rest of Somalia in May 1991, five months after dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was toppled. It has yet to be recognised by the outside world.
"Objects used for the excision are not sterilized and at the same time could again be used to mutilate more women, who could already be HIV positive," Hodan lamented.
Another doctor and four other medical personnel at the hospital agreed, pointing out that there were already HIV cases in Somaliland where, due to a lack of proper awareness campaigns, people are still not aware of the risk of infection.
But an elderly religious man immediately dismissed the concerns expressed by the medical personnel.
"AIDS is a hazardous message from Allah to adulterers and other turncoats, who act sexually against nature," religious elder Abdi Dahir Ali said.
"Any person who remains committed to his legally accepted wife would not be affected by the so-called sickness. The world is not a safe place while homosexuals and lesbians are free to spoil the planet," Ali added.
Asked about the use of condoms, Ali warned that the condoms themselves could be infected.
"White people are very notorious when speaking about other races. STDs were first brought to Africa by the colonial soldiers and AIDS originated from the United States, that is California," Ali claimed.
But Hodan warned that if the FMG is not legally forbidden in Somaliland, "the practice would inflict disastrous health risks for its women and society at large."
The Somaliland government estimates that only one percent of its population is HIV positive, but aid agencies say the number is slightly higher.
"The situation is not like in neighbouring Kenya, Djibouti and Ethiopia, but if massive awareness and preventive measures are not taken, the number of infected people might increase sharply," an expatriate aid official told AFP.
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