Somali women defy danger to write basketball history

By Teo Kermeliotis, for CNN

December 22, 2011 -- Updated 1201 GMT (2001 HKT)

Coach Mohamed Sheekh gives instructions to his players during Somalia's game against Jordan on Monday, December 19.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Somalia's national women's basketball team played at this year's Arab Games in Qatar
• The team had to prepare in the Mogadishu police HQ for extra security
• Somali religious militants see sport as "un-Islamic"
• In 2006, Somalia's Islamic Courts Union banned women from playing sport

(CNN) -- It's just a few minutes after the final whistle has blown and the shiny basketball court of the Al Gharafa Sports Hall in Doha is filled with shouts and cheers.
The sky blue-clad national women's basketball team from war-ravaged Somalia has just beaten Qatar, the host nation, at the 2011 Arab Games, in a hotly-contested match that ended 67-57 to the East African country.
"Words can't describe how I felt," says Canadian-born Somali team member Khatra Mahdi about last week's triumph. "We were all jumping up and down, there were tears in the girls' eyes -- history was made right there," she adds.
The victory marked a remarkable feat for the Somali players as it came against a backdrop fraught with difficulties and danger.
Notwithstanding Somalia's prolonged civil war and shattered sports infrastructure, the team says it had to prepare for the Games in the bullet-ridden police headquarters in Somalia's capital, Mogadishu. There, the women would train for two to three hours a day under the watchful eye of security officers, tasked to safeguard them against religious militants targeting women playing the sport.
Fertile territory for Al Shabaab in chaos of Somalia

The threat is always there -- there are people who will see girls playing sport as a devil's thing and they will not allow it.
Duran Ahmed Farah, Somali National Olympic Committee

"We try to protect them outside and inside," says Said Duale, the secretary general of the Somali Basketball Federation, adding that the safety of the women is "taken very seriously."
In recent years, many Somali athletes have been threatened by members of the militant Islamist group Al Shabaab who see sport as an "un-Islamic" activity, according to Duran Ahmed Farah, the Somali National Olympic Committee (NOC) senior vice president for international relations.
In summer 2006, the Islamic Courts Union (ICU), which then controlled Mogadishu, labelled sport as a "satanic act" and issued an order prohibiting women from playing sport, including basketball.
A few months later, the ICU was deposed but Al Shabaab, which has connections to al Qaeda, is still fighting to impose its own interpretation of Islamic law, or Sharia, on the country.
"The threat is always there -- there are people who will see girls playing sport as a devil's thing and they will not allow it," Farah says.
Women have been stoned to death for adultery; amputations and beheadings are common while in some areas Al Shabaab has banned listening to the radio.
Inside Kenya's war with Al Shabaab
"These girls are brave: in that kind of environment they're still playing their sport, the sport they like," says Farah.
Basketball is one of the most popular sports amongst women in Somalia. Duale says that the country's first national female basketball team was created in the early 1970s but hadn't performed at an international tournament since 1987.
The Islamist ban, coupled with the challenges presented by the lack of sponsorship and destroyed facilities, have all hindered the development of the sport in recent years.
Yet, despite the threats and all the setbacks, Somalia's national women's basketball team concluded its participation at the Games on Monday with the very respectable tally of three losses and two victories -- Kuwait also lost to Somalia.

We want to use sport as a peace-building tool to bring the Somali people together.
Aden Hagi Yeberow, NOC president

Like some other teams representing Muslim countries, the national team plays in relatively modest uniforms: track pants and shirts with elbow-length sleeves; players also wear scarves that cover their hair.
Coach Mohamed Sheekh put together an ambitious team comprised of women based in Somalia and the diaspora -- the United States, Canada, UK and Germany. Many of the players hadn't even seen their teammates before, let alone played a basketball game with them.
"I'm very happy and proud of them," says Sheekh of his players. "They were excellent and everyone was talking about them."
NOC president Aden Hagi Yeberow says the team's success in Doha can act as a unifying factor in a country that's been plagued by insecurity, political instability, lack of unity and scarcity of resources.
"We want to use sport as a peace-building tool to bring the Somali people together," he says. "What these young girls are doing in this tournament has laid the foundations, hopefully, of a good future of our people.
"We would like to capitalize on this and also to move forward and, hopefully, this will be the beginning and the start of the unity of our people."

Out of Egypt: Live ammo, beatings, stripping

By Mohammed Jamjoom and Mohamed Fadel Fahmy, CNN

December 23, 2011 -- Updated 1531 GMT (2331 HKT)

Egyptian woman speaks of injustice

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• A video showed police beating a woman and others trying to help her
• The violence occurred in Cairo's Tahrir Square Saturday during a stretch of unrest
• Twitter hashtags emerged -- #Tahrirwoman and #Bluebra
• A relative says of Suleiman's beating, "I'm glad her father didn't see this day"

Cairo (CNN) -- When Azza Hilal Suleiman saw Egyptian military pummel the veiled woman, she stepped in to help and got kicked and clubbed by security forces, a beating that was captured in a video that went viral around the world and also showed live gunfire and the violent removal of a Muslim woman's clothing.
"A veiled woman was injured and the army stripped her," she told CNN in an exclusive interview from her hospital bed in Cairo, suffering from painful skull fractures and facial cuts.
She couldn't stand to see the repeated blows to the woman, who was dragged, kicked, partially stripped and then stomped. "So I ran and tried to cover her body and pull her out," Suleiman said.
"We tried to cover her and pull her away but they beat us. I didn't feel anything after this."
Suleiman was seen in a red coat in the same video that showed the veiled woman's beating. Security forces rushed toward Suleiman and pushed her to the ground as she ran to the veiled woman's side.
"I was just trying to help her up after they exposed her body," she said.
Suleiman is one of three people in the video interviewed by CNN, with one of them saying he was shot. A CNN crew also witnessed the security force beatings and shootings and saw other women stripped of some of their clothing.

Beaten activist still in lot of pain

The beatings took place last Saturday in Cairo's Tahrir Square, amid a five-day stretch of assaults by police and defiant protests by demonstrators demanding that Egypt's ruling military cede power to a civilian government.
A Health Ministry spokesman said 16 people died, including 14 by gunshots, according to Dr. Hisham Sheeha. The military has denied the use of live ammunition.
Photos of the unidentified veiled woman were plastered on the front pages of global and local newspapers and appeared on Facebook. Twitter hashtags #TahrirWoman and #Bluebra emerged. The images stirred worldwide outrage because of the beating and because she was partially stripped in a Muslim society where women cover themselves for modesty.
The woman has not been identified. An activist and student, she chooses not to talk to reporters at present, two people who know her told CNN.
She had been dressed in a traditional robe and headscarf, but as police clubbed her and dragged her down the street, those articles of clothing were pulled away, exposing her midriff and blue bra. The video showed one of the police officers aiming a foot at her upper abdomen and stamping squarely on it.
The beatings and the use of live ammunition against protesters, particularly women, have outraged Egyptians. More than a thousand people gathered in Tahrir Square for a "Million Woman" march Tuesday.
Women and men holding placards showing pictures of the veiled woman's beating marched through the surrounding streets to denounce the escalating violence by security forces.
The ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces has since expressed "great regret" over the mistreatment of women protesters, but it has not apologized for the assaults, a fact that enrages demonstrators. But SCAF reiterated "its respect and appreciation for Egyptian women and their right in protesting and their active positive participation in the political life."
Age 48, divorced and unemployed, Suleiman is the daughter of a deceased army general. She wanted to speak to CNN despite her agony.
In an earlier visit to the hospital, she indicated how much she was suffering, saying, "My head is going to explode."
Others came to Suleiman's aid, such as businessman Ehab Hanna, who was also beaten up and shot after he tried to help the woman with the veil.
"Azza covered her naked body. Then we tried to pull her up to take her to the field clinic. But I was shocked with a sting in my leg, thought it was a rock. I tried to walk but fell to the ground, so they started beating me and Azza relentlessly," he told CNN.
Hanna said security forces left him alone when they thought he was dead. But when he moved, he was beaten. He said he and other injured people were on the ground for about 30 minutes because ambulances weren't allowed into the area.
"I only found out I was shot in the leg when I arrived to the hospital. They told me the bullet penetrated my knee and ended up in my calf. I saw the Army officer firing his gun, but I thought it was blanks. I did not imagine they would fire live ammo at their people."
Journalist Hassan Shaheen Mahmoud also is in the video. He told CNN that he is filing a complaint against military leaders because they "dragged, stripped and beat" women and journalists. He too said he tried to come to the aid of the veiled woman, who suffered serious cuts and bruises.
"I started to run, but she froze and fell to the ground when another protester bumped into her," Mahmoud said. "I tried to help her get up, but the soldiers were brutal even when I told them I was a journalist. They even continued to beat her after her body was exposed."
"I will not remain quiet," Mahmoud vowed.
One military official showed no sense of remorse.
"What was a woman like her doing in a conflict zone?" asked the military spokesman, Maj. Mohamed Askar. "She must have participated in the attacks on the military and the Cabinet."
Askar questioned why the woman has not come forward to identify herself.
"Our troops do not just attack people for no reason," he said. "If she had nothing to hide then she would have presented herself. Where is she?"
The Egyptian military said it isn't aware of Suleiman's case but will look into it.
"If she comes from a military family then she reserved the right to be transferred to a military hospital even if her father is deceased," said Col. Islam Jaffar of the military's morals department.
As Wafa Ahmed, Suleiman's sister-in-law, listened to her wailing in pain, she thought of Suleiman's father and other family members, who have served Egypt in the military and government. "I'm glad her father didn't see this day," Ahmed said.

Al Qaeda-linked group finds fertile territory in Nigeria as killings escalate

By By Paul Cruickshank and Tim Lister, CNN

December 26, 2011 -- Updated 1814 GMT (0214 HKT)

Boko Haram claimed responsibility for a wave attacks on Christmas Day 2011.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Many of those targeted are Christians
• Police stations and mosques deemed 'insufficiently Islamic' are also attacked
• Assailants belong to the group Boko Haram, which translates to "Western education is outlawed"

(CNN) -- In November, dozens of armed men descended on a town in northern Nigeria and killed more than 100 people in a coordinated series of bombings and gun attacks.
Many of those targeted were Christians, but police stations and mosques deemed "insufficiently Islamic" were also attacked.
The town was Damataru, capital of the Nigerian state of Yobe, and the assailants belonged to the group Boko Haram, which translates from the local Hausa as "Western education is outlawed."
In two years, Boko Haram has morphed from a radical Muslim sect into an insurgency responsible for dozens of attacks in Nigeria and beyond. Western intelligence analysts believe it is also developing links with al Qaeda affiliates in Africa.
Boko Haram's targets include police outposts and churches, as well as places associated with 'western influence.' Its signature attack is a Karachi-style drive-by shooting from a motorbike, but this year it has begun a campaign of suicide vehicle attacks.
In Maiduguri, the epicenter of the insurgency, there is a heavy military presence, with security checkpoints, sandbagged military positions and the scars left by bomb attacks.
House-to-house searches are common. A senior military officer admitted last week that Maiduguri was a dangerous place, with "miscreants" slipping across the nearby borders with Chad and Niger. The Nigerian authorities seem unable to overcome Boko Haram -- and its growing footprint worries neighboring states and the U.S. Africa Command.
Many Christians in northeastern Nigeria have fled their homes as the violence has worsened this year.
A government offer of amnesty has had little effect; the deployment of 20,000 Nigerian troops to deal with ethnic and religious violence has failed to subdue the group.
President Goodluck Jonathan has warned of "swift and certain justice for criminal elements" -- but analysts say that the inefficiency of the Nigerian state, rampant corruption and a heavy-handed military response may play into Boko Haram's hands.
Until 2009, Boko Haram was a fundamentalist sect that espoused a Taliban-like interpretation of Islam. It did not advocate violence but it was hostile to Nigeria's Muslim leadership for its compromises with the 'infidel.'
One day in July that year, police stopped some of its members on motorbikes -- and told them to wear helmets. Tempers flared. When the bikers resisted, police opened fire -- killing nine members of the group, according to witness reports collected by Shehu Sani, the President of the Civil Rights Congress.
The Congress is an independent human rights group based in northern Nigeria, and Sani has had extensive contacts with figures in Boko Haram.
In the days after that confrontation, hundreds of Boko Haram members were killed in clashes with security services. Among them, the group's charismatic leader Mohammed Yusuf, who died while in the custody of police, according to Sani.
A secondary school dropout, Yusuf preached a strict application of Sharia law in northern Nigeria, arguing that the rich and connected had evaded Sharia despite its formal adoption by several Muslim-majority states in Nigeria. His message resonated with thousands of marginalized Muslims. Boko Haram can also draw on the deepening inequalities and religious divide between north and south Nigeria to help recruitment.
After the crackdown, security services accused the group of planning an armed jihad in Nigeria by stockpiling weapons, including guns, explosives, and grenades, and purchasing land for paramilitary training. A significant number of members fled to neighboring Niger and Chad. But far from this being a victory for the security services, it brought Boko Haram members into contact with al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).
According to U.S. officials, the groups have since forged a partnership -- with AQIM sharing its evolving expertise in suicide bombing.
"We know that there are increasingly frequent contacts, and indeed, training of members of Boko Haram by al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, and that's of great concern," Ambassador Anthony Holmes, U.S. Africa Command's civilian deputy said earlier this month. Algerian officials, long concerned at the growth of AQIM, have voiced the same concerns. And last week a senior Nigerian military officer told Reuters: "Boko Haram is al Qaeda."
In a global poll conducted by the Pew Research Center in 2009, a higher percentage of Nigerian Muslims (54%) stated they had confidence in Osama bin Laden than in any other Muslim-majority country.
Boko Haram's muscle was enhanced a year ago when the group freed at least a hundred of its members from a prison in Bauchi in northeastern Nigeria. This year, Boko Haram has begun looking to new horizons, including the capital, Abuja. In June, the group carried out its first suicide bombing -- attacking the National Police headquarters. Two months later -- in a dramatic escalation of its campaign -- it launched a suicide car bombing against the U.N. headquarters in Abuja, killing 23.
Boko Haram released a video featuring a martyrdom recording by the suicide bomber in the attack -- a-27-year-old from Maiduguri -- who praised Osama bin Laden and referred to the U.N. headquarters as a "forum of all the global evil."
The U.N. attack, Sani says, was likely an attempt by Boko Haram to embarrass the Nigerian government. He believes the group's Shura Council decided that attacking the U.N. would create less of a backlash against the group than directly targeting American interests.
"When they attacked the U.N. headquarters, they had to pass the American Embassy to Nigeria just a few meters away, but they knew the implications of targeting American interests: that things would get worse for them," Sani said.
U.S. officials believe some of those involved in that plot may have also trained with the al Qaeda linked militant group Al Shabaab in Somalia. In September, U.S. military officials warned that Boko Haram, AQIM, and al Shabaab might make common cause in targeting American interests in the region.
Earlier this month, the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria warned that Boko Haram may be plotting to target three luxury hotels in Abuja.
Al Qaeda in West & Central Africa?
According to Shehu Sani, the group's agenda is still primarily local. "The origin of their fight is with the government of Nigeria and the security agencies," Sani said. "They want an end to the government's campaign against them and for them to pull troops out of northeastern Nigeria."
Analysts believe some Boko Haram members might be tempted by payouts made by the government to militants in the Niger Delta in recent years in exchange for their laying down arms. But one attempt at mediation has already ended in disaster. In September, a leading figure in Maiduguri connected to the group who sat down for talks with a former president of Nigeria was assassinated within 48 hours. Sani helped set up the meeting; he says he has since received death threats himself.
Security analysts are concerned the group may try to target Nigeria's oil industry in the Niger Delta, destabilizing supplies from the world's eighth largest oil exporter. Over the past decade, pipelines and rigs in the area have been repeatedly targeted by the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND). The area is predominantly Christian and western intelligence sources say it would be difficult for Boko Haram to establish a presence there.
Human rights activists say for now, the authorities' crackdown in northern Nigeria may have the effect of radicalizing more Muslims. According to Sani and others tracking the group, Boko Haram has drawn its membership mainly from disaffected youngsters and unemployed graduates. But it has also gathered support among the professions.
Human Rights Watch says it has documented serious abuses by Nigerian police, including extrajudicial executions against suspected members of Boko Haram.
"The security forces are punishing people who they believe provide shelter to Boko Haram, but if you reveal the identity of Boko Haram fighters, then they'll kill you. You can see the dilemma," Sani said.
"If Nigerian government can't solve the problem, and the violence continues, then this virus will spread across the countries of west Africa and central Africa, emboldening the group and boosting its membership, making it a well-established part of al Qaeda," he said.
Today the Nigerian media, like its politicians, are full of advice to the government on how to tackle Boko Haram -- from an even tougher military response to renewed attempts at dialogue, another amnesty and a more comprehensive effort to address the root causes of the violence.
Neither carrot nor stick has worked so far.

Hong Kong orders chicken cull as bird flu alert raised

Hong Kong is quick to take action against infectious diseases

Hong Kong is culling 17,000 chickens after three birds were confirmed to have died from the deadly H5N1 bird flu strain in the past week.

The government has banned imports and the sale of live chickens for three weeks after an infected chicken carcass was found at a wholesale market on Tuesday.

It has also raised the city's flu alert system to "serious".

Two wild birds were also found to have died of the the virus.

The government said it was tracing the source of the chicken carcass, but it was not clear whether the chicken came from a local farm or was imported.

"I understand that it will cause inconvenience to the public, and the poultry trade will also encounter losses," said Hong Kong's secretary for food and health, York Chow.

"However, to safeguard public health, we need to adopt decisive and effective measures to prevent and control the spread of the virus."

On Tuesday, a dead Oriental magpie found at a secondary school tested positive for bird flu.

Another secondary school closed for a day for disinfection last Friday after a dead black-headed gull was found with the virus.

Hong Kong is quick to take action against infectious diseases after an outbreak of the deadly respiratory disease SARS in 2003 killed 300 people in the city and a further 500 worldwide.

In 2009, 300 people were placed under quarantine at a Hong Kong hotel after a guest contracted swine flu.

Breast implants 'have no cancer link' says UK watchdog

Dr Susanne Ludgate: "We would really advise women in this country not to panic"

Continue reading the main story

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Women with silicone breast implants made by a French company should not have them removed, UK officials say.

French authorities will decide shortly whether women should have implants supplied by Poly Implant Prothese (PIP) removed, amid fears of health risks.

But the UK's Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) says none of the evidence into possible links with cancer supports removal.

It is thought up to 40,000 British women have the PIP silicone implants.

Women with implants who are concerned have been told to contact the surgeon or clinic that fitted them. According to the MHRA, the vast majority (95%) of the implants were fitted privately, with less than 5% used within the NHS.

In the UK, more than 250 British women are to start legal action, said a lawyer. Over half had suffered ruptured implants, Esylllt Hughes told the news agency AFP.

PIP used non-medical grade silicone believed to be made for mattresses, according to the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (BAAPS). This meant the low-cost devices were more likely to split.

'Seek advice'

Eight cases of cancer, mainly breast cancer, had so far been reported in patients with PIP implants, France's Director General for Health, Jean-Yves Grall, told the Liberation newspaper. A ninth patient in Gers died of cancer last year.

Continue reading the main story

Implant fears: timeline

• March 2010: French authorities suspend use, marketing, distribution and export of the implants
• March 2010: The UK government agency which regulates the safety of medicines, the MHRA, advises UK doctors not to use the implants. They tell women with concerns to consult the surgeon who fitted the implants
• October 2010: MHRA says early test results show no evidence that the filler has potential to cause cancer but further testing is to be carried out by French regulators
• April 2011: MHRA says French regulators have found no evidence of genotoxicity (potential for cancer) or chemical toxicity of the filler material inside the devices

• PIP breast implants: Your stories

But the head of France's National Cancer Institute, Dominique Maraninchi, said last week the cases were not necessarily linked to faulty implants.

The MHRA said there was "insufficient evidence to indicate any association with cancer" after reviewing the available evidence with the relevant UK professional bodies.

It said it had worked in consultation with the cancer registry as well as professional bodies for breast surgery and surgical oncology.

"The MHRA's current advice to women with any type of breast implant continues to be that women who are concerned about their breasts or think that their implants may have ruptured, should seek clinical advice from their implanting surgeon," the agency said.

A statement from the British Association for Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons (BAPRAS) said: "BAPRAS has not yet seen the evidence demonstrating that health problems may have been caused by PIP breast implants and will fully assess any that becomes available.

Continue reading the main story

“Start Quote

These implants have a higher failure rate so there will be women who might choose to have their implants removed before that happens, whereas others will be happy to be monitored”

Douglas McGeorgeBAAPS

"We currently believe that the expected announcement from French medical authorities will be a precautionary measure.

"Surgeons will be in contact with any patient who has received this type of implant if any action is required."

Douglas McGeorge, consultant plastic surgeon and former president of the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (BAAPS), said patients with breast implants should check whether they have had one from PIP.

"The message here is not to panic," he said.

"The advice is unchanged. Women with PIP implants should be checked by the clinic where they had their surgery and can then be monitored afterwards.

"These implants have a higher failure rate so there will be women who might choose to have their implants removed before that happens, whereas others will be happy to be monitored."

Administration

More than 300,000 implants are believed to have been sold globally by PIP over the last 12 years.

About 30,000 have been fitted in France, out of which more than 1,000 have ruptured.

PIP went into administration last year and the use of its implants was banned.

French authorities say they will decide on Friday whether to ask the women given that type of breast implant to have them removed.

The French government has formed a special committee to look at the issue.

Morning flu jabs 'work better for men'

By Michelle RobertsHealth reporter, BBC News

Men fare better if they are vaccinated in the morning, say the researchers

Continue reading the main story

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Flu jabs can be made more effective by changing the time of day they are given - mornings for men and afternoons for women are best - scientists believe.

Synchronising the jab with the body's natural daily cyclical rhythm makes it more likely to offer good immunity, says the Medical Research Council team.

The immune system gets sluggish as we age which explains why only a third of elderly people vaccinated get full protection from their winter flu vaccine.

Rescheduling appointments may help.

To test their theory, the researchers are using GP patients in Birmingham as guinea pigs.

300 of them will be given morning or afternoon vaccination appointments, determined by their gender.

Continue reading the main story

“Start Quote

We're not sure why, but we think it is down to hormones”

Prof Janet LordMRC

Professor Janet Lord, who is leading the research, said: "It's a major health issue trying to find ways to improve the vaccination response.

"We know that immunity goes down with ageing. But we may have found a way to counter that."

She said it was a chance finding in about 150 patients that led them to the idea in the first place.

"A colleague discovered that vaccine response varies with the time of day.

"Men tend to have a better response in the morning, and women in the afternoon.

"We're not sure why, but we think it is down to hormones."

Hormone levels in the body change throughout the day in a predictable, cyclical pattern. And the effect of this differs between men and women, the scientists suspect.

Prof Lord and her team hope to get a definitive answer by studying at least 300 elderly patients attending for their routine flu vaccinations this winter and next.

"We've already made a start and hope to get enough patients on board to be able to see if such a simple, cheap measure of changing appointment times can make all the difference."

Zimbabwe chief fines Morgan Tsvangirai over 'wedding'

Morgan Tsvangirai accuses security agents of interfering in his private life

Continue reading the main story

Zimbabwe - New Era?

• Wikileaks woe for Mugabe
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• Lay of the land

A traditional court in Zimbabwe has fined Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai for breaking a cultural taboo by paying a bride price in November.

He was ordered to pay two cows, two sheep and 10 metres of cotton cloth.

The prime minister refused to attend the hearing because it was "manifestly illegal", his lawyer said.

Mr Tsvangirai paid a bride price to marry a businesswoman before calling off their relationship, saying it had been "hijacked" for political reasons.

He was ordered to appear before a court headed by chief Negomo in Mashonaland Central province.

"Our hearing went on well, despite the prime minister's decision to disrespect the court by absconding," chief Negomo's assessor, Maj Cairo Mhandu, is quoted by Zimbabwe's privately owned The Standard newspaper as saying.

'Sacred month'

"We gave him 30 days to pay and if he doesn't, we will send debt collectors after him and attach whatever we can."

Continue reading the main story

“Start Quote

It appears to us that you have not read and/ or that you do not understand the law, province and your limits as a traditional chief”

Selby HwachaMr Tsvangirai's lawyer

Maj Mhandu said the family of his former fiancee, Locadia Tembo, was also fined.

"His in-laws were ordered to pay two cattle, two sheep and a goat because they agreed to receive his money during a sacred month," he said, The Standard reports.

Mr Tsvangirai and Ms Tembo belong to the Shona ethnic group, which believes that marriage proceedings in November bring bad luck.

Mr Tsvangirai's lawyer Selby Hwacha said the court had no power to hear the case.

"From a legal point, Tsvangirai will not appear before your court because the entire process is manifestly illegal and void," Mr Hwacha said in response to the chief's summons, The Standard reports.

"It appears to us that you have not read and/or that you do not understand the law, province and your limits as a traditional chief."

The traditional ceremony, where the bride price of several thousand dollars was paid on 18 November, took place in Christon Bank, about 25km (15 miles) north of Harare.

The area falls under the jurisdiction of chief Negomo.

On 30 November, Mr Tsvangirai said he had called off his relationship with Ms Tembo - a commodity trader and sister of an MP in President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF.

He accused the security services of interfering in his private life and said that his relationship with Ms Tembo had been "irretrievable damaged".

Mr Tsvangirai's first wife, Susan, died in a car crash soon after he became prime minister.

Tension between Mr Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party and Zanu-PF has been growing ahead of elections, expected next year.

The two parties have been in a coalition government since 2009, following elections marred by violence and allegations of vote-rigging.

Mr Tsvangirai boycotted a run-off vote, claiming he had been cheated out of victory in the first round.

He and Mr Mugabe agreed to form a power-sharing government following mediation by regional leaders.