Tanzania Albino Murders: Over 200 Witchdoctors Arrested

 

Tanzanian authorities have arrested as many as 200 witchdoctors and traditional healers for the murder of albinos for medicine.

                 

Police Spokesperson, Advera Bulimba, told AFP, “Some of those arrested were found in possession of items like lizard skin, warthog teeth, ostrich eggs, monkey tails, bird claws, mule tails and lion skin.”
Some witchdoctors have promoted the belief that the body parts of albinos have properties that confer wealth and good luck.
The government has also been clamping down on unlicensed traditional healers and soothsayers across the country; arresting as many as 225 of them recently.
The UN says nearly 80 albino Tanzanians have been killed since the year 2000, with the latest victim being a one year old albino boy.
The United Nations human rights chief said there has been a sharp increase this year in attacks on albinos in East Africa, especially in Malawi and Tanzania, calling the attacks “stunningly vicious.”
“As a result, many people with albinism are living in abject fear. Some no longer dare to go outside, and children with albinism have stopped attending school,” High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, said in a statement.
President Jakaya Kikwete, says the murders are evil, and the act has brought shame to the country