---------- Forwarded message ----------
>Date: Sat, 09 Jun 2001 18:48:42 +0000
>Subject: Women march in Tamba
>From: "Molly Melching" <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>X-Priority: 3
>
>I was just informed yesterday of an unusual event that
>happened in a very conservative region of Senegal - in the village of
>Dialacoto in the Tambacounda Region, Department of Tambacounda, District of
>Missirah on May 31, 2001. The women have just finished the Tostan
>(Village Empowerment Program).
>
>After one of the class participants, pregnant, was beaten severely by her
>husband, the women met for hours. They decided that despite all the social
>mobilization they had done concerning their human right to be protected from
>all forms of violence, men still felt they could do harm to women in this
>way and get away with it.  They therefore wrote a letter to the Sous-PrÈfet
>of Missirah requesting the authorization to organize a peaceful
>protest march on May 31, 2001.  The Sous-Prefet responded on May 29,
>authorizing a march from the Dialacoto market to the Police Brigade,
>one kilometer away (Ref: CONF Nƒ16/A.MISS/SP).
>The women notified the press, other women and local officials,
>inviting them to attend.
>
>I was not aware that they were going to do this and they only informed the
>Tostan Coordinator two days before the march. They made this decision
>entirely on their own despite threats from the men and local authorities
>trying to dissuade them from carrying through.
>
>Here is the text of the RTS radio report in French that was broadcast on May
>31, 2001.
>     The women sing: "Mantooro n man lafi a la mandingue" - "We want no more
>violence in the land of the Mandinkas."
>
>"It is in these terms that the women of Dialacoto took to the road.  They
>walked a distance of more than a kilometer, beating pots, pounding sticks,
>and shouting loudly.  The reason for this unprecedented march in a village
>of about 1000 inhabitants (and in the area in general)
>is that women are still being beaten and undergo all types of
>oppression, as explained by Doussou Sissao Drame:
>     'We are marching to make the populations of the Rural Community of
>Dialacoto aware that women have human rights and we denounce
>violence against women by men in general. For example, several days
>ago a pregnant woman was beaten by her husband and had to be
>evacuated to a hospital in Tambacounda for treatment.
>   In our zone we still have female genital cutting practiced, early
>marriages still exist, forced marriages still exist.  We are determined
>to put an end to all of that!'
>
>Accompanied by law enforcement agents, the women ended their march
>at the headquarters of the national police station and expressed their
>frustration and anger.  The women planned this march and
>made it happen through sheer will power, since in these rural zones,
>male domination is still the rule and the "law of silence" is the norm.
>
>Pressure from many places was exerted on the women in an attempt
>to prevent the march, but the women of Dialacoto who participate
>in a program of the NGO Tostan would not hear of calling it off.
>They asked for and received authorization for the march;
>nonetheless upon their arrival, neither the local administrative
>authorities nor the President of the Rural Council were on hand
>to listen to the women's pleas to end the violence.
>Only the Commander of the national police was willing to listen
>and promised to transmit the message to the other administrative
>authorities."
>
>                     RTS radio Tambacounda - Ousmane Tanou Diallo
>                      (broadcast throughout Senegal on March 31)
>
>
>PS - I called the Commander of the National Police Station
>in Dialacoto to thank him for having the courage to receive the
>women when the others "fled" and he was very pleased.
>He says that he deals with cases of forced and early marriages,
>as well as domestic violence on a daily basis in the area.
>It is a real problem. He says the program has helped tremendously
>to raise awareness in the villages and stop the violence and
>that this is the only way to put an end to the tragedies that
>he is forced to witness each day.

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