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Albino killings near Kilimanjaro – further details
January 5th 2008.
Further details about the recent deaths of albinos in the Kilimanjaro
region (see the news archive for December 14th) are emerging.
Tanzania’s Albino Society,
which represents the country’s population of some 270,000 albinos, has been accusing
the government of ignoring the current threats against them, despite the murders
of four albinos in the past few months.
It is widely believed that at least some
of the murders were actually ritual killings, motivated by beliefs in black magic,
with some witch doctors claiming that albino body parts can be used in potions to
help their clients become rich. This hypothesis was given credence recently when
an albino body was found exhumed from its grave, with its limbs having been cut off.
In perhaps the saddest case, however, a teacher in Arusha was recently arrested for
killing his own albino child. Though the motive for the teacher’s actions are as
yet unknown, many Tanzanians believe that an albino child is caused by a curse being
placed upon the parents during the wife’s pregnancy.
The Albino Society is calling
for the authorities to help change people’s attitudes to albinos through education,
to help rid the widely held idea that albinos are somehow ‘magical’, ‘ghostly’ people.
They also want the government to treat the condition as a disability, with albino’s
at high risk of getting skin cancer.
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