A 10-year-old girl has died after undergoing female genital mutilation (FGM) during an initiation into a secret women’s society in Sierra Leone, police said on Wednesday, sparking renewed calls for the practice to be banned.

Authorities have arrested the woman in charge of initiations as investigations continue, said Amadu Turay, unit commander of the Mile 91 police division, in Sierra Leone’s northern Tonkolili district about 240 km (145 miles) east of Freetown.

“She died of blood loss,” Turay told the Thomson Reuters Foundation, adding that it was assumed FGM was the cause.

A local activist said 67 other girls were reported to have been initiated and were awaiting medical examination.

Female genital cutting is widely practised in the West African nation as part of girls’ initiation into secret societies which wield significant political clout.

Nine in 10 women have been cut in Sierra Leone which has one of the highest rates of FGM in Africa, according to United Nations data. It is one of only a handful of African countries which has not outlawed the internationally condemned practice.

The ritual typically involves the partial or total removal of the female genitalia and can cause serious health problems. The last reported death in Sierra Leone was two years ago, and the victim was 19.

A government spokesman could not immediately be reached for comment. (Reuters)

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