GIRLS WHO FLED FROM THREAT OF FORCED CIRCUMCISION REST IN A CHURCH WHERE THEY SOUGHT REFUGE,...

Four of sixteen Catholic girls who fled their homes after a threat of forced circumcision by their Marakwet tribe in Kenya's Rift Valley, rest at the Amesea Pastoral Institute in Eldoret, Kenya April 17, 2002. Through the Centre for Human Rights and Democracy non-governmental organisation the 16 girls have become the first to successfully file a temporary injuction (restraining order) against anyone intending to forcefully circumcise them in Kenya, a rite of passage for the Marakwet, a sub tribe of the Kalenjin, the tribe of Kenyan president Daniel arap Moi. Female genital mutilation (FGM) is common in Kenya's 42 or so tribes. REUTERS/George Mulala GMM/AA