AFRICA/TANZANIA – Kidnapping of one year old albino toddler triggers indignation

Wednesday, 18 February 2015

Dar es Salaam (Agenzia Fides) – The kidnapping of an albino boy has raised widespread indignation among Tanzanians, who are demanding measures against witch doctors and the use of body parts in magic practices. The one year old boy was torn from his mother in the family home in the region of Geita, in north west Tanzania, on Sunday 15 February, by a group of men armed with machetes. The mother was wounded while trying to protect her child.
According to United Nations data some 70 albinos have been killed in the past decade in Tanzania, many of them murdered with cold steel weapons to dismember the body for parts to be used for magic rituals, traditionally thought to obtain wealth, success and to win elections.
Last month Tanzania announced it was trying to crack down on these attacks, witch doctors were accused of starting albino manhunts and outlawed. In several cases it was revealed that family members were often accomplices with the kidnappers who offer large sums of money for an albino child. “Magic practices” are very costly, and can only be afforded by wealthy people. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 18/2/2015)


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