Nairobi — Islamic religious leaders in Mauritania are again in the spotlight for their role in eliminating female circumcision.

Even though timid headways are being made in several countries in Africa in the domain, the role of Islamic leaders still is an indispensable and determinant factor.

In the Islamic Republic of Mauritania this week, rights groups and Muslim clerics signed a religious decree or fatwa banning female genital mutilation in the country.

The accord was reached following two days of debate led by the Forum of Islamic Thought and Dialogue of Cultures in the capital Nouakchott.

Reports say Muslim leaders who endorsed the decree drew on a 2008 declaration by Mauritanian doctors and midwives that female circumcision is "harmful to health and can have grave consequences including death".

But this is not the first time though, that such a decree came into action in the country. Despite years of awareness campaigns and a 2005 law punishing anyone cutting a child and "causing injury," the practice still persists.

Rights activists say the latest decree or fatwa would only be effective if religious leaders take the message to the people engaged in the practice.

Secretary-General of the Forum, Cheikh Ould Zein, told reporters: "Our reasoning went like this: Are there texts in the Koran that clearly require this practice? On the contrary, Islam is against any act that has negative repercussions for health. Doctors agree that female circumcision threatens health; therefore it is against Islam."

According to statistics, about 72 per cent of girls and women in Mauritania have undergone the cut.