A BABY girl born on Christmas Day in Manyara Region was subjected to female genital mutilation by her great-grandmother and died a few days later, police said.
This incident only serves as evidence that some families are still cutting their girls in the country and starting doing so at tender ages.
The girl was born to a 16-year-old single mother and five days after her birth, her 70-year-old great-grandmother performed the ritual which led to complications and the infant died in hospital.
Francis Massawe, Manyara Regional Police Commander, told the reporters on Tuesday that the mother and great-grandmother had been arrested and a criminal investigation was underway.
FGM is illegal in Tanzania and campaigners say many communities are rejecting the harmful traditional practice.
However, the Network Against Female Genital Mutilation (NAFGEM) that works with communities in the Kilimanjaro and Manyara regions, said there was evidence families who were still cutting their girls were starting to do it at younger ages.
"Girls used to be mutilated around the age of 10 and it was a traditional practice to prepare them for marriage," Francis Selasini, executive coordinator of NAFGEM said.
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