Egypt sees U turn on female circumcision

Campaigners for a ban on female circumcision have been shocked by the way in which, they claim, the Egyptian government has now backtracked on the issue. After President Hosni Mubarak promised to introduce legislation to stop the operation the health minister, Dr Ali Abdul Fatah Omaar, has now declared: “We have no plans to ban this operation by introducing legislation, but we are looking at ways for it to be carried out by qualified doctors and under proper medical supervision.” He made this statement after he emerged from a meeting with Sheikh Jad El Haq of Al Azhar, who is against any ban on the operation.

The issue came to prominence last September, when the CNN …