West Africa: Villagers renounce female circumcision

A total of 212 villages in Senegal and The Gambia agreed on Sunday to renounce female circumcision and weddings featuring child brides. About 1 500 inhabitants from the 12 Gambian and 200 Senegalese villages gathered in Diamakouta in southern Senegal near the Gambian border for a ceremony led by Tostan, a local Senegalese NGO working to eradicate female circumcision.