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A boy cries before being
circumcised in Shinyalu, in Kakamega, on August 8, 2014 ©Simon Maina (AFP)
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South African police have rescued 11 teenage boys from forced
circumcision, officials said Thursday, after parents reported that the
youngsters had been taken away for the traditional but often dangerous ritual.
African teenagers from
some ethnic groups often spend time in secluded bush or mountain regions as
part of their initiation to manhood, which includes circumcision and lessons in
courage and discipline.
AFP reports scores of boys and young
men have their penises amputated each year after botched circumcisions during
the rite-of-passage ceremonies.
"There were 11 boys
who were taken for initiation," Mack Mngomezulu, police spokesman in
Daveyton east of Johannesburg, told AFP.
"They were taken
from the streets and their parents went to open a case for kidnapping. Their
ages were between 13 and 16."
Police rescued the boys,
who had not yet been circumcised, and arrested 3 suspects.
"They were soon
found since parents came to police quickly," he said.
The annual ceremonies
start around late May, with deaths reported each year due to infection,
exhaustion and dehydration.
A government commission
found 486 boys died on initiation courses between 2008 and 2014.
One 21-year-old South
African man who lost his penis after a botched circumcision received the world's
first successful penis transplant in December.
His girlfriend is now
pregnant, and his surgeons say they have been inundated with requests from men
who had similar amputations.
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