Uganda: An attempt to stage The Vagina Monologues in Uganda has been stopped by the forces of Christian conservatism. Eve Ensler's show celebrates female genitals through a series of soliloquies. It has been called "indecent and tasteless" by a Ugandan government minister, while church groups have described it as pornographic and "anti-male."

Changes to the script have been demanded including the deletion of references to lesbianism and the removal of the word "vagina" from the title.

The Vagina Monologues was set to receive its Ugandan premiere at the Ndere Cultural Centre in the Kampala, but organisers said that the show had been cancelled after failing to reach agreement with the Media Council, the quango which screens theatre performances.

"They cut the title," said Sarah Mukasa, one of the organisers to The Guardian. "They cut a sketch. They also cut another in which a 16-year-old girl is seduced by an older woman. We'd have to cut everything to their satisfaction, which to us renders the play useless. It amounts to silencing women's voices."

The trouble began when information minister James Nsaba Buturo attacked the play at his weekly press briefing saying, "The title... is undoubtedly indecent and tasteless." He said the author was "a known lesbian... She worships the female sexual organ, seeing it as her god." He accused the organisers of being in league with "external interests" who wanted to corrupt "the moral foundation" of Ugandan society.

The organisers claim the censorship was inspired by Christian lobby groups. "African culture is very much into expressing sexuality," said Mukasa, who is also an activist for a Ugandan womens' group. "This right-wing Christian fundamentalism that calls itself African is actually very un-African indeed."

The censorship of The Vagina Monologues has prompted serious alarm among other artists. "I'm concerned that the Ugandan government feels its people can't be trusted to choose for themselves," said Binyavanga Wainana, editor of kwani? the Kenyan literary journal. "There's an idea that seems to be prevalent among the older generation of African leaders, almost that their people are blank vessels. That globalisation and western influences are waiting at the door for 'you stupid people' to be changed."

The Nairobi performance of the show has added some Kenyan context with references to female genital mutilation and the high incidence of rape in the city's slums. The Kampala show was intended to raise funds for groups helping female victims of the war in northern Uganda, where the rebel Lord's Resistance Army abducts girls to serve as forced 'wives' for commanders.