• Kuando-Kubango—Female Refugees From Zambia, Namibia Get Training. [AllAfrica.com] At least 70 women from refugee camps in Zambia and Namibia, currently sheltered in Menongue, Kuando-Kubango province, have been attending as from January this year a professional training in sewing, baking and literacy. The provincial director of Family and Women Promotion (DIFAMU), in Kuando-Kubango, Florinda Alberto Cassanga said, among those under training, 40 are attending literacy, 10 sewing and the remainder ten in baking. She noted that the ten-month training will mainly secure them an adequate integration in the society, through creating self-employment possibility or rapid professional market integration. The director added that this first phase is only benefiting the ex-refugees, adding that the process will also be diversified in coming months, according to the strategy of her institution. The centre is faced with other difficulties related to the lack of materials for the current courses.

• Women on Top. [AllAfrica.com] Sometimes several readers suggest the same topic to me all in one week, and, usually, if I find that topic relevant to the improvement of working relations, productivity and service delivery in Botswana, I write about it. Sometimes these topics are based on misconceptions, sometimes on speculation and other times on the truth, however uncomfortable that truth may be. I think this particular article straddles the last two...there is some uncomfortable truth and some speculation in the idea that women cannot work very well together, and, sadly, there is a grain of truth in the accusation that some women are in their positions because they actively exploit all aspects of their femininity to maximum effect.

Cape Verde

• Two Women Stoned to Death on W. Africa Resort Island. [SI.com] Two Italian women were killed in a brutal attack on a Cape Verde resort island, and one of them might have been alive when she was buried by her killers, an Italian official said. Because some dirt was found in her lungs, "it is presumed that perhaps Dalia could have been still alive when she was buried" after the attack, Italy's honorary consul in Cape Verde, Luigi Zirpoli, told Sky TG24 TV. The consul said rocks and sticks were used in the attack. Zirpoli was referring to the autopsy on one of the victims, identified in Italian news reports as 33-year-old Dalia Saiani from northern Italy. The other victim, a 28-year-old, and a 17-year-old survivor, were part of a group of Italians on a windsurfing vacation in Cape Verde, an archipelago off Africa's west coast. Zirpoli said in a phone interview that two local men had confessed to the killings while a third man had been released on bail because he apparently was not involved in the crime. The other two "called him to [help] bury [the victims] but when he realized what they were doing, he refused," Zirpoli said.

• 1 of Italian Women Slain in Cape Verde Might Have Been Alive When She Was Buried. [International Herald Tribune, France] One of two Italian women slain on a Cape Verde resort island in a brutal attack might have been alive when she was buried by her killers, an Italian official said. Because some dirt was found in her lungs, "it is presumed that perhaps Dalia could have been still alive when she was buried" after the attack, Italy's honorary consul in Cape Verde, Luigi Zirpoli, told Sky TG24 TV. Zirpoli was referring to the autopsy on one of the victims, identified in Italian news reports as 33-year-old Dalia Saiani from northern Italy. The other victim, a 28-year-old, and a 17-year-old survivor, were part of a group of Italians on a windsurfing vacation in Cape Verde, an archipelago off Africa's west coast. Zirpoli said in a phone interview that two local men had confessed to the killings while a third man had been released on bail because he apparently was not involved in the crime. The other two "called him to (help) bury (the victims) but when he realized what they were doing, he refused," Zirpoli said.

• Our Bodies - Their Battle Ground. [IRINnews.org] As Elizabeth and her captors arrived at the militia camp, she realized that dozens of other girls had also been kidnapped. "When we got there we were so many," she said. "We were taken into the bush, when a big man came and took me." Life with the Mayi Mayi, an ethnic milita, was a nightmare of almost continuous abuse. "All they did was come and 'take' us often. They used to tie up the women and tie their husbands to trees then take us [the girls]," the 17-year-old told IRIN." I stayed with them for so long and it didn't matter any more who took me." Elizabeth's ordeal happened in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), but it could well have been in Sierra Leone, Liberia or a variety of other countries. Wherever there is armed conflict, there are stories like hers, stories of rape, of trauma; stories of unimaginable horror, of girls and women who have been gang-raped, held indefinitely as sex-slaves, beaten, mutilated, killed. Sometimes the victims are in their 70s or 80s, sometimes they are younger women, or teenagers. Some are as young as six months old. Social workers and aid professionals working against gender-based violence (GBV) are overwhelmed with cases of violations as indiscriminate as they are vicious. One young mother in eastern DRC told IRIN about the time she went home to find a paramilitary raping her 10 month-old baby. In Liberia, a worker at a non-governmental organization helping rape victims said that during 14 years of vicious civil war, tens of thousands of women were assaulted. "Even the old were raped here," she said.

• First Female Head For WASS. [Joy Online, Ghana] The first female head of West Africa Secondary School in Accra has been inducted into office at a very impressive ceremony in Accra. She is Lady Queene Asiedu-Akrofi, a graduate of the University of Cape Coast, where she also obtained a Diploma in Education. She also holds a post-graduate diploma in the teaching of French as a foreign language from University de Saint-Ettiene in France. Ms Asiedu-Akrofi is also an old student of both Archbishop Porter Girls Secondary School, Takoradi and St. Louis Secondary School in Kumasi. Until her appointment as the substantive headmistress of West Africa Secondary School, on August 1, 2006, she was the substantive assistant headmistress of Accra Girls’ Secondary School.

• Female Student Represents Ghana at UN Meeting. [Joy Online, Ghana] A student from Notre Dame Girls Secondary School, Fiapre, Sunyani in Brong Ahafo Region, Agnes Agyemang-Barnie has been nominated to be part of a delegation of 25 students and adults who will be participating in a meeting of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women in New York from February 26 this year to March 9. The CSW is a functional commission of the UN Economic and Social Council and it is dedicated exclusively to gender equality and the advancement of women. Ms Agyemang-Barnie’s participation and that of others, 17 adults and seven other students is being sponsored by the School Sisters of Notre Dame. The program is the 51st session of the CSW and will come off at the United Nations Headquarters.

• Courtship in Female Hands on These Isles. [Gainesville Sun] He was 14 when the girl entered his grass-covered hut and placed a plate of steaming fish in front of him. Like all men on this African isle, Carvadju Jose Nananghe knew exactly what it meant. Refusing was not an option. His heart pounding, he lifted the aromatic dish, prepared with an ancient recipe, to his lips, agreeing in one bite to marry the girl. "I had no feelings for her," said Nananghe, now 65. "Then when I ate this meal, it was like lightning. I wanted only her." In this archipelago of 50 islands off the western rim of Africa, it's women, not men, who choose. They make their proposals public by offering their grooms-to-be a dish of distinctively prepared fish, marinated in red palm oil. Once they have asked, men are powerless to say no. To have refused, explained Nananghe, remembering the day half a century ago, would have dishonored his family — and in any case, why would he want to choose his own wife? "Love comes first into the heart of the woman," he explained. "Once it's in the woman, only then can it jump into the man."

Nigeria

• Lambo Criticizes Female Genital Mutilation. [The Tide, Nigeria] Health Minister, Eyitayo Lambo has said that Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) impacts negatively on the reproductive health rights of women and the girl child. Speaking in Abuja at a joint ministerial briefing on the International Day of Zero Tolerance for FGM, Eyitayo said the youth should be at the centre of the action in the campaign against the practice. He said it was a form of violence against women and infringes on their dignity and human rights. Mrs. Halimah Alao, Minister of State for Health, who represented Lambo, said that WHO conducted a hospital-based study on FGM and Obstetrics in six African countries including Nigeria in 2006, and confirmed that it exposes women and babies to risk during childbirth. The study also found that there was an increased need to resuscitate babies at birth if their mothers were mutilated while an estimated additional 10 to 20 babies die per 1,000 deliveries as a result of FGM.

• Female Genital Mutilation Down 50% in Niger. [Africa News, Netherlands] Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) among women aged between 15 and 49 years, has fallen by 50% from 5% in 1998 to 2.2% in 2006 in Niger, according to latest official statistics. The figures showed ethnic and regional disparities, with 65.9% of women circumcised among the Gourmancé, 12.8% among the Peulhs and 3.4% among Arabs. The practice was most prevalent in Niamey, the nation's capital, as well as in Tillabéry in the west and Diffa east of the country. UNICEF Representative in Niger, Akhil Iyer, said, "youths must spearhead the fight against the practice" to achieve better results. The Niger Committee on Traditional Practices, CONIPRAT, an NGO involved in the fight against FGM, was said to have sensitized some 6,210 pupils in 70 schools against the practice, in the worst hit regions, last year.

• Nigeria's Only Female Carwash Operator. [Carwash Online] Evelyn Peters, the only female carwash operator in the area, went into the carwashing business as a result of the demolition of her painting business, the Daily Sun reports. According to the Feb. 12 report, Peters said she invested money to construct a signpost and purchase containers with other materials and chemicals needed to start off the business. Peters describes the business as very challenging as it involves fetching and carrying of water, the report said. Peters said in the report, "I feel really fulfilled doing a good job, and I am happy about it because it may be carwash today and something bigger tomorrow."

• The Impact of Women On Policy Formulation. [AllAfrica.com] On February 22, Rwanda will host an International Women Summit to cap commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the Forum for Rwanda Women Parliamentarians. ELENEUS AKANGA looks at the role of women legislators and how their untiring efforts have proved successful to the cause of their fellow females and the over all policy development in the country. When the new Constitution was adopted in 2003, women representation at all levels became a fundamental principle. To cement this notion, commitment to the rule of law as well as gender equality became paramount. With a mandatory constitutional mandate of 30% fixed for women, women grouped and began gunning for positions of influence. It was not a surprise when during the 2003 elections women met and exceeded the minimum target. The road to policymaking and implementation had just begun.

Somalia

• Female Genital Mutilation Grips Somalia. [Christian Broadcasting Network] Living in a war zone is one thing. Living under the constant fear of the knife is another matter all together. You have to hear the first-hand accounts of the victims to even begin to understand their plight. Even then, you never completely appreciate the level of trauma they experience. Somalia has the dubious distinction of being the one place in the world where women undergo the most barbaric form of mutilation. The practice is called Female Genital Mutilation , often referred to as "female circumcision." The procedure is extremely graphic so I'll leave it to the experts at the World Health Organization to explain FGM. There are different types of female genital mutilation. The Somalis practice the most extreme form. Hoffman interviewed an elderly lady who claimed to have 'cut' more than 250 girls. The good news is that there's a grassroots movement to stop FGM. It's an uphill battle though. Those involved in the fight often face physical and verbal abuse from the community. Our story looks at this horrific practice through the eyes of a Somali Muslim cleric who is fighting religious and cultural traditions to end FGM. He has a personal stake in the outcome. He has three daughters who are not circumcised.

• FDC Launches Women’s Month. [New Vision, Uganda] Women of the opposition Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) are planning to organize their own International Women’s Day celebrations, claiming that the government only honors the great women of the government NRM. “Women’s day in Uganda is for women who are regarded greater than others, those donning yellow NRM T-shirts and dry banana leaves,” the party’s National Secretary for Women, Ingrid Turinawe, said while announcing the FDC Special Women’s Month, ending on March 8. “In order to avoid the humiliation we were subject to when we were turned away from Mpigi (the venue of last year’s celebrations), FDC has resolved to organize a function at which all peace-loving Ugandans will freely join the world to commemorate women’s day. "Our slogan is: No Woman Left Behind.”