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BBC HomepageSkip to contentAccessibility HelpYour accountNotificationsHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeMore menuMore menuSearch BBCHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeCBBCCBeebiesFoodClose menuBBC NewsMenuHomeIsrael-Gaza warCost of LivingWar in UkraineClimateUKWorldBusinessPoliticsCultureMoreTechScienceHealthFamily & EducationIn PicturesNewsbeatBBC VerifyDisabilityWorldAfricaAsiaAustraliaEuropeLatin AmericaMiddle EastUS & CanadaGhana child bride under police protection after marriage to priestPublished5 minutes agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage source, Kpone TVImage caption, The 12-year-old bride is seen here after arriving at the wedding reception, flanked by her young bridesmaidsBy Favour NunooBBC News, AccraA 12-year-old girl has been placed under police protection in Ghana after it emerged she had been married to a 63-year-old traditional high priest.There was public outrage after footage of Saturday’s customary wedding was shared on social media.The office of the influential priest, who serves an indigenous community in the capital, defended the marriage, saying it was only ceremonial.The legal minimum age to get married in Ghana is 18.The prevalence of child marriage has declined in recent years, but it continues to happen. BBC Africa Live: Updates from the continentPolice say they have identified and tracked down the girl and she is now under their protection, along with her mother.Contact had been made with the government’s children’s minister and the social welfare department to ensure the 12-year-old gets the necessary support while investigations continue, their statement added.The story is huge news here – and the move by the police has elicited some praise, though others are questioning why there have been no arrests.The priest in question, Nuumo Borketey Laweh Tsuru XXXIII, is a much-respected member of a community that lives in the Nungua area of the capital, Accra.As a spiritual leader, the priest – known as a “Gborbu Wulomo” – performs sacrifices on behalf of the community, prays for their protection, enforces cultural practices and leads traditional rites during events such as the installation of traditional chiefs.Videos and photos of the elaborate wedding show it was attended by dozens of community members and in the footage women are heard telling the girl to dress teasingly for her husband.They also advise her to be prepared for wifely duties and to use the perfumes they gifted her to boost her sexual appeal to her husband.Community leaders say such duties would not be expected for another six years, when she would be 18.However, civil society groups continue to condemn the marriage.”The perceived acceptance of child marriages and the open brazen approval or defence of the practice by influential leaders of the community have the potential to embolden certain deviant behaviours like paedophilia,” the Paediatric Association of Ghana has said in a statement.According to the UN ‘s children’s agency (Unicef), the West African nation has two million unions in which the wife was a child bride at the time of the marriage.More than nine out of 10 married girls are not attending school, it adds.Another recent study showed one in five young Ghanaian women aged between 20 and 24 years were married before the age of 18.The members of the community in Nungua are part of the Ga people, who live along the south-eastern coast of Ghana.In Ga culture, the selection of chiefs, high priests and wives of the high priest is believed to be a spiritual process.Specific families are responsible for nominating someone for these roles to serve the gods.In this case, the 12-year-old comes from one of the families who by tradition must provide a bride for the high priest.For the family, it is an honour – though in most cases the chosen candidates for these roles are adults.More from Ghana:The 100-year-old imam who went to churchGhana’s LGBT terror: ‘We live in fear of snitches’How Ghana’s central bank lost $5bn in one yearRelated TopicsChild marriageGhanaWomen’s rights in AfricaAround the BBCFocus on Africa podcastsAfrica Daily podcastsTop StoriesLive. 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[ad_1] As a spiritual leader, the priest – known as a “Gborbu Wulomo” – performs sacrifices on behalf of the community, prays for their protection, enforces cultural practices and leads…
![BBC HomepageSkip to contentAccessibility HelpYour accountLiveNotificationsHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeMore menuMore menuSearch BBCHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeCBBCCBeebiesFoodClose menuBBC NewsMenuHomeIsrael-Gaza warCost of LivingWar in UkraineClimateUKWorldBusinessPoliticsCultureMoreTechScienceHealthFamily & EducationIn PicturesNewsbeatBBC VerifyDisabilityWorldAfricaAsiaAustraliaEuropeLatin AmericaMiddle EastUS & CanadaUkraine war: Frontline medics count the cost of two years of warPublished30 minutes agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingRelated TopicsWar in UkraineImage caption, Maj Oleh Kravchenko says nothing had prepared him for the brutality of the conflictBy Andrew HardingBBC News, Eastern UkraineMaj Oleh Kravchenko has the sort of chuckle that’s hard to resist – deep and treacly and mischievous. “I’m still alive,” he said, tilting his head to one side in his wheelchair, like a spectator marvelling at someone else’s magic trick.As Ukraine marks the second anniversary of the war, Kravchenko’s turbulent story captures something of the journey so many people here – soldiers and civilians alike – have been on, as they’ve come to understand the sort of sacrifices and patience this long conflict is demanding of them.Kravchenko is 50 years old now, and we’re meeting for the third time since Russia launched its latest invasion of Ukraine. His beard – brown and trim when I first encountered him in the besieged Donbas town of Lysychansk in 2022 – is now straggly and grey.We first met on a warm day in Lysychansk, in April 2022, having driven into the hilltop town on the last road still more or less under Ukrainian control. Kravchenko emerged from a doorway with a wry smile and offered to drive us around. We raced off towards the frontlines in his car at furious speed, an automatic rifle at his side, and the sound of incoming artillery fire booming through the open windows.”Look here. It’s a crater from a Russian bomb,” he said, playing the tour guide, as we skidded round another corner. Image caption, Maj Kravchenko uses a wheelchair after being injured in a Russian rocket attackKravchenko, in charge of the 57th Brigade’s medical teams, took us to an evacuation point in the bombed-out ruins of an old factory, and then helped us sneak, without permission, past far more cautious officials, and into the main military hospital, where dozens of shell-shocked Ukrainian soldiers lay silently in their beds.”A practical guy – unorthodox,” one of his colleagues remarked about Kravchenko’s style, with an indulgent smile.Kravchenko had already seen plenty of war before the Russian invasion. After leaving his job administering a hospital in central Ukraine, he’d worked as a doctor for the United Nations, spending several years in Afghanistan, and visiting Somalia, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sudan too.But nothing had prepared him for the opening months of this conflict.”Everywhere, blood, blood, blood,” he said, as we stood beside a stack of blood-stained stretchers. But in those early days he still seemed optimistic, convinced Ukraine could quickly win the war.”Ukrainian soldiers are strong because it’s our land. It’s my country. My daughter, my son, are here. My heart is here,” he said, his back straightening.”I hope one, maybe one and a half months and we will shoot every Russian. Our soldiers will hold their positions. We will give the enemy a good fight.”Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Maj Kravchenko and his men left Lysychansk only a few weeks before it was captured by Russian forcesWe said our goodbyes and drove out of Lysychansk later that afternoon. The town was captured by Russian forces a few weeks later and remains in the Kremlin’s control.It would be a whole year before we ran into Kravchenko again, this time on the outskirts of Bakhmut, another frontline town, 50km (31 miles) to the southwest.”Still alive,” he said, by way of a greeting. It was something I’d begun hearing other soldiers say. But his grin seemed forced. And the dark smudges of exhaustion below Kravchenko’s eyes made him look like he was wearing stage paint.”It’s been difficult. I didn’t sleep at all last night,” he said, showing me around the small warehouse which his team had turned into a makeshift field hospital.’I don’t know about my fate’ It was the day before Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of Russia’s Wagner group, launched his short-lived mutiny against President Vladimir Putin in July 2023.Bakhmut itself had already fallen to the Russians weeks earlier, but Ukraine’s much-heralded counter-offensive was in its early stage and there were strong hopes for its success. Even so, the signs around Bakhmut were already looking ominous, with casualties from shrapnel and landmines being brought in with alarming regularity from the nearby trenches.”So much heavy artillery,” Kravchenko remarked.As we sat outside, hiding beneath some trees to avoid Russian drones circling overhead, two incoming shells sent us diving for cover. The second failed to explode and Kravchenko dismissed it, with a short laugh, as a mere “fart.”But there was no disguising his unease.”People are very tired. It’s been a very heavy year,” he said. Then, unprompted, Kravchenko started to talk about his own future, a subject that must gnaw at so many minds after months spent in constant danger.Is Russia turning the tide in Ukraine?”I think about God and about fate. My fate is… hmm… I don’t know,” he said, explaining that he sometimes pictured himself after the war was over. “[Until then] I’m just living and doing my job. I want to do it perfectly. I don’t know about my fate.” Kravchenko was proud of how much experience his unit in the 57th Brigade had gained in combat medicine and talked about sharing that knowledge with other armies. His phone was full of videos showing recent operations he’d performed on soldiers with flesh torn apart by a range of missiles.Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Ukrainian soldiers are exhausted after two years of fightingBut then everything changed.Late one evening, in October 2023, Kravchenko was working at the building he and his medical team had moved to, further west, near Izyum. They’d just been operating on a seriously wounded soldier and had put him in a vehicle ready for transport to a larger hospital. Kravchenko and three others went back inside to collect some equipment. At 23:40, a Russian rocket hit the building.”Svitlana had five children, and Yuliia had three. Vladyslav was never married. He didn’t have children yet. He was 32,” said Kravchenko, when we met this week for a third time.A stern, haunted expression spread across his face as I asked him about the incident itself, and the death of his three close colleagues.”It’s too heavy. It’s difficult for me,” he said in a deep, gruff voice. The same rocket that killed the others had brought a heavy pipe down on his own leg, smashing his left knee. Kravchenko had been taken to a hospital in Dnipro, then to Kyiv. Now he was back in his hometown of Kremenchuk, on the Dnipro River. “President Zelensky gave me this one,” he said, showing some of his medals and a pistol he’d also been given. Kravchenko is more or less confined to a wheelchair for the moment but can use crutches to get up one or two steps and is getting regular physiotherapy. Since his injury, he has retired from the military, but remains in contact with his successor, a former dentist who also volunteered and joined the 57th Brigade.”Leonidovych is a good man. Good company,” said Ihor Babarykin, using Kravchenko’s middle name as a mark of respect. ‘The fear never goes’ The team has recently moved to a new base close to the town of Kupyansk, now being targeted heavily by Russian forces. Last summer’s counter-offensive had achieved little and Ukrainian forces have recently been driven out of Avdiivka. US arms supplies are running out and President Zelensky has warned that without more western help Russia will win.”There are drones everywhere. And glide bombs. It has become so dangerous, but we’re holding the line. We’ve grown accustomed to this work now. The fear never goes, but somehow you get used to it,” said Babarykin. Three new casualties, all suffering from shellshock, lay quietly on beds nearby.At his home near the Dnipro river, Kravchenko is wrestling with his new life out of the army.”I would like to go back to my job on the frontline. But I cannot. I did my job well. After being wounded I want to start a new project for my country. A military hospital of my dreams. I know how to do it,” he said, fidgeting, in apparent frustration, with the handles of his wheelchair.Like so many Ukrainians right now, Kravchenko worries that the West may be losing interest in supporting the fight against Russia. “It will be a long war. Ukraine is the frontline of Europe. If we lose, after that it will be Poland and Germany and other countries,” he said sombrely.Kravchenko’s military call-sign is “Afghan”, in reference to his work abroad. But he’s hoping that will change soon, if and when his knee heals.”In one month, I will run like the wind. After that you will call me ‘Wind’,” he said, with something close to a chuckle. 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![BBC HomepageSkip to contentAccessibility HelpYour accountLiveNotificationsHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeMore menuMore menuSearch BBCHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeCBBCCBeebiesFoodClose menuBBC NewsMenuHomeIsrael-Gaza warCost of LivingWar in UkraineClimateUKWorldBusinessPoliticsCultureMoreTechScienceHealthFamily & EducationIn PicturesNewsbeatBBC VerifyDisabilityWorldAfricaAsiaAustraliaEuropeLatin AmericaMiddle EastUS & CanadaRosenberg: How two years of war in Ukraine changed RussiaPublished2 hours agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingRelated TopicsWar in UkraineImage caption, A mural of fallen Russian soldiers in SolnechnogorskBy Steve RosenbergRussia EditorAs I stood watching Russians laying flowers in memory of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, a young man shared his reaction to Mr Navalny’s death in prison.”I’m in shock,” he told me, “just like two years ago on 24 February: when the war started.”It made me think about everything that has happened in Russia these last two years, since President Putin ordered the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. It is a catalogue of drama, bloodshed, tragedy.Russia’s war has brought death and destruction to Ukraine. The Russian military has suffered huge losses, too.Russian towns have been shelled and come under drone-attack;Hundreds of thousands of Russian men were drafted into the army;Wagner mercenaries mutinied and marched on Moscow. Their leader Yevgeny Prigozhin later died in a plane crash.The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Russia’s president for alleged war crimes.Now Vladimir Putin’s most vocal critic is dead.24 February 2022 was a watershed moment. But looking back the direction of travel had been clear. It was in 2014 that Russia had annexed Crimea from Ukraine and first intervened militarily in the Donbas; Alexei Navalny had been poisoned with a nerve agent in 2020 and jailed in 2021. Domestic repression in Russia pre-dates the invasion of Ukraine, but it has accelerated since. As for Vladimir Putin, two years into this war he sounds increasingly confident and determined to defeat his enemies at home and abroad. He rails against America, Nato and the EU and presents Russia’s war in Ukraine as a war on Russia by the “collective West”, an existential battle for his country’s survival. How and when will it end? I can’t predict the future. I can, however, recall the past. In a cupboard at home recently I found a dusty folder with copies of my Russia despatches from more than 20 years ago: the early Putin years.Sifting through them, it was like reading about a different galaxy light-years away.Russia accused of executing prisoners of war in Avdiivka Is Russia turning the tide in Ukraine?”According to a recent poll, 59% of Russians support the idea of Russia joining the European Union…” I wrote on 17 May 2001.”Nato and Russia are actively seeking closer cooperation: a sign to both sides that the real threat to world peace lies not with each other…” [20 November 2001]So, where did it all go wrong? I’m not the only person wondering.Image caption, Former Nato chief Lord Robertson says Russia’s loss of superpower status “ate away” at Vladimir Putin”The Putin I met with, did good business with, established a Nato-Russia Council with, is very, very different from this almost megalomaniac at the present moment,” former Nato chief Lord Robertson told me recently when we met in London. “The man who stood beside me in May of 2002, right beside me, and said Ukraine is a sovereign and independent nation state which will make its own decisions about security, is now the man who says that [Ukraine] is not a nation state.”Lord Robertson even recalls Vladimir Putin contemplating Nato membership for Russia.”At my second meeting with Putin, he said explicitly: ‘When are you going to invite Russia to join Nato?’ I said, ‘We don’t invite countries to join Nato, they apply.’ And he said, ‘Well, we’re not going to stand in line beside a bunch of countries who don’t matter.’ Lord Robertson said he does not think that Putin really wanted to apply for Nato membership. “He wanted it presented to him, because I think he always thought – and increasingly thinks – that Russia is a great nation on the world stage and needs the respect that the Soviet Union had,” he told me. “He was never going to comfortably fit inside an alliance of equal nations, all sitting round the table debating and discussing interests of common policy.”‘Growing ego’Lord Robertson points out that the Soviet Union was once recognised as the second superpower in the world, but Russia can’t make any claims in that direction today. “I think that sort of ate away at [Putin’s] ego. Combine that with the feebleness, sometimes, of the West and in many ways the provocations that he faced, as well as his own growing ego. I think that changed the individual who wanted to cooperate with Nato into somebody who now sees Nato as a huge threat.” Moscow sees things differently. Russian officials claim it was Nato enlargement eastwards that undermined European security and led to war. They accuse Nato of breaking a promise to the Kremlin, made allegedly in the dying days of the USSR, that the alliance wouldn’t accept countries previously in Moscow’s orbit. “There was certainly nothing on paper,” Lord Robertson tells me. “There was nothing that was agreed, there was no treaty to that effect. But it was Vladimir Putin himself who signed the Rome Declaration on 28 May 2002. The same piece of paper I signed, which enshrined the basic principles of territorial integrity and non-interference in other countries. He signed that. He can’t blame anybody else.” Image caption, A war memorial in Solnechnogorsk commemorates Russians killed in the “special military operation”In the town of Solnechnogorsk, 40 miles from Moscow, the last two dramatic years of Russia’s history are on display in the park. I spot graffiti in support of the Wagner mercenary group. There are flowers in memory of Alexei Navalny. And there’s a large mural of two local men, Russian soldiers, killed in Ukraine. Painted alongside is a Youth Army cadet saluting them.In the town centre, at a memorial to those killed in World War Two and the Soviet war in Afghanistan, a new section has been added:”To soldiers killed in the special military operation.”Forty-six names are etched into stone.I ask Lidiya Petrovna, passing by with her grandson, how life has changed in two years. “Our factories are now making things we used to buy abroad. That’s good,” Lidiya says. “But I’m sad for the young men, for everyone, who’ve been killed. We certainly don’t need war with the West. Our people have seen nothing but war, war, war all their lives.” When I speak to Marina, she praises Russian soldiers she says are “doing their duty” in Ukraine. Then she looks across at her 17-year-old son Andrei. “But as a mother I’m frightened that my son will be called up to fight. I want peace as soon as possible, so that we won’t fear what comes tomorrow.”Related TopicsWar in UkraineRussiaVladimir PutinUkraineMore on this storyRussia accused of executing prisoners of war in AvdiivkaPublished2 days agoIs Russia turning the tide in Ukraine?Published5 days agoInside Ukraine’s struggle to find new men to fightPublished12 FebruaryThe Ukrainians ‘disappearing’ in Russia’s prisonsPublished10 FebruaryTop StoriesLive. 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