** Tamale (Northern Region) 11 Feb. '99

The National Council on Women and Development (NCWD) has condemned the recent spate of violence against women in the Northern region. The council has, therefore, called on government to revoke customs, traditions and religious practices, which help, perpetuate violence in line with the International Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women. Addressing a press conference in Tamale yesterday, Ms Fati Paul, regional co-ordinator of the NCWD, asked the law enforcement agencies to conduct thorough investigations into such incidents. The conference was in reaction to the latest incident involving the alleged beating to death of a 28-year-old pregnant woman, Fati Abdallah, by her husband, Abdul Rahman Ziblim, 41, in Tamale. Mrs. Mariama Sumani, chairperson of the regional planning committee of the NCWD, said a number of long-term strategies had been adopted to eliminate violence against women. These include public education to raise the status of women to gain recognition of their full human rights and lobbying of parliament to reform laws that allow such violence. Hajia Alima Mahama, a member of the committee, expressed concern about the growing incidence of lynching of old women on suspicion that they are witches, rape, child defilement, assault and female genital mutilation in the region.