"Disturbing the peace"

South Sudan's president has shut down a police investigation that saw scores of young women arrested for "disturbing the peace" by wearing tight trousers.

The women were arrested over the past week by police who said they suspected them of belonging to youth gangs known for drinking, fighting and public nudity.

But government officials, including the south's gender minister, said they were angry at the way the women had been targeted and treated after arrest.

President Salva Kiir had ordered a "serious investigation" into the police crackdown, said a government minister.

Kiir also ordered the immediate release of any woman arrested under the operation in the south's capital Juba, and said there were questions over its legality, Southern Minister for Presidential Affairs Luka Biong added in a statement.

Police arrested more than 35 women Sunday night alone, angering bystanders by the way they pushed them into two trucks.

The deputy police commissioner of Juba County, Raiman Lege, said they were disturbing the peace by wearing trousers that were too tight. The group was freed Monday without charge after appearing in court.

Sudan's semi-autonomous south generally has a much more relaxed approach to women's dress than the country's Muslim north, with which it fought a two-decade war that was ended by a 2005 peace deal.

Source: Reuters

Looks like the police in many African countries have one thing in common; wrong priorities. A couple of months ago in some of the states in southern Nigeria, the police started cracking down on women wearing trousers...it was ridiculous because these states are not governed under the Sharia law. They claimed they were clamping down on women who were indecently dressed and if you ask me this country has a lot more problems to contend with.

I believe that a woman should be decently dressed; but is it necessary to have law on this? Presently there is a bill on indecent dressing awaiting debate in the House of Representatives and events have overtaken it. The oil prices have gone down and the President says this will affect the financing of the 2009 budget. Looks like we might be heading for some really tough economic times.

Frankly, with that on my mind, I dont think I would be bothered about whether women should wear trousers or not......looool.