Ritual killings: Albinos hunted
THEY break into a house like typical armed robbers. But this time, they do not want money. They want one of the children who is an albino. These armed people grab the child at gunpoint and disappear into the night. These are some of the gruesome stories coming out of Tanzania and Burundi.
By Carol Natukunda
and Kikonyogo Ngatya
THEY break into a house like typical armed robbers. But this time, they do not want money. They want one of the children who is an albino. These armed people grab the child at gunpoint and disappear into the night.
These are some of the gruesome stories coming out of Tanzania and Burundi. Up to last month, hardly a day would pass without hearing of albinos being murdered and parts of their body missing.
It is believed that these albino body parts, when mixed with a special magic potion by witchdoctors, bring wealth.
Albino traders cross borders and are difficult to handle by a single nation. This raises fears that they are likely to enter Uganda.
The Tanzanian government has alerted authorities in the East African Community to form a comprehensive plan for ending this menace.
According to Reuters on Thursday, 25 albinos have fled village homes near Burundi’s border with Tanzania to the small town of Ruyigi in fear for their lives. They are under police protection.
With the authorities becoming increasingly vigilant in Tanzania and Burundi, it is feared that the thugs may infiltrate Uganda and cause havoc in the districts of Bukanga, Isingiro, and Rakai.
However, the Police have assured the public that they are not relaxed. “We cannot take chances,†said CID spokesperson Fred Enanga.
“No albino has been reported abducted yet. But we are talking to the traditional healers association and we are saying those who go out of hand will be dealt with. We are also calling on the public to be alert and report any suspected incidences.â€
Enanga added that every Ugandan has a right to live without fear or intimidation, regardless of their skin colour, religion and tribe.
Press reports show that at least 100 Albinos have been killed in Tanzania in the past nine months. The killings have been rampant in Mwanza, Mara, Shinyanga, Kigoma in the Lake Victoria zone neighbouring Uganda and in Kagera near Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Police statistics show that Mwanza has the highest number of witchdoctors with at least 3,000 registered.
Every parent of an albino child has good reason to be frightened. Attackers snatch albino babies from their parents’ arms or attack them on the way to school. Others break into homes and grab them at gun-point.
According to a BBC report, last month, one albino, Nyerere Rutahiro, was having supper in his home’s modest rural compound when four strangers burst in. His wife could not restrain them from hacking Rutahiro’s arms and legs with machetes.
She said Rutahiro bled to death while his hackers took off with his limbs. The community mobilised to bury the father of two in a cement-sealed grave to protect it against grave robbers who were expected to return for the other body parts.
The BBC hired a sorcerer-turned-born again to do an undercover story. Shilinde, 41, had confessed at Sengerema Evangelical Lutheran Church that he had been a wizard since the age of three and had fled his region for fear that his fellow sorcerers and witches would be angered by his new faith.
Undercover, he found witchdoctors who were promising a magic concoction mixed with ground albino organs. The starting price was $2,000 (sh3.9m) for the vital organs. Another witch boasted that the police were also his customers and that he could make a special potion mixed with ground male and female private parts to enable people to commit armed robbery without being caught. The police are investigating the claims.
Albinos have gone into hiding, while others have flocked urban centres where they feel a little safer. In Dar es Salaam, the albino community organised a rally to denounce the killings and called for more protection.
Tanzania Police say witchdoctors, middlemen and the clients who pay for albino body parts are among the 173 people in custody so far. None has been prosecuted. For a long time, albinos have been marginalised as society deems them a curse.
They live in perpetual fear, struggling with the stigma of being branded ‘white men’, yet at the same time enduring the reality of being born in a family where everyone else is black.
David Wangode, the chairperson of the Albino Association in Uganda, says when he was born 41 years ago, his father wanted to kill him but his mother resisted. “He did not touch me. He was too scared of the colour,†said Wangode, in an interview with CBS News last year.
Children and teachers were also afraid of him. after he graduated, he took jobs his mother could get him, always hidden in the background, and working in the early morning and late in the evening.
FACT FILE
Albinism is an inherited genetic condition characterised by the lack of the pigment melanin in the skin, eyes, and hair.
Without melanin, an albino has very pale skin, visual problems and increased risk of skin cancer.
Albinism affects people from all races. Most children with albinism are born to parents with normal skin colour. There is no cure for albinism, but treatment can help the symptoms. Avoiding exposure to UV light and using high-factor sunscreen are essential. Ante-natal testing for the condition could also help.
and Kikonyogo Ngatya
THEY break into a house like typical armed robbers. But this time, they do not want money. They want one of the children who is an albino. These armed people grab the child at gunpoint and disappear into the night.
These are some of the gruesome stories coming out of Tanzania and Burundi. Up to last month, hardly a day would pass without hearing of albinos being murdered and parts of their body missing.
It is believed that these albino body parts, when mixed with a special magic potion by witchdoctors, bring wealth.
Albino traders cross borders and are difficult to handle by a single nation. This raises fears that they are likely to enter Uganda.
The Tanzanian government has alerted authorities in the East African Community to form a comprehensive plan for ending this menace.
According to Reuters on Thursday, 25 albinos have fled village homes near Burundi’s border with Tanzania to the small town of Ruyigi in fear for their lives. They are under police protection.
With the authorities becoming increasingly vigilant in Tanzania and Burundi, it is feared that the thugs may infiltrate Uganda and cause havoc in the districts of Bukanga, Isingiro, and Rakai.
However, the Police have assured the public that they are not relaxed. “We cannot take chances,†said CID spokesperson Fred Enanga.
“No albino has been reported abducted yet. But we are talking to the traditional healers association and we are saying those who go out of hand will be dealt with. We are also calling on the public to be alert and report any suspected incidences.â€
Enanga added that every Ugandan has a right to live without fear or intimidation, regardless of their skin colour, religion and tribe.
Press reports show that at least 100 Albinos have been killed in Tanzania in the past nine months. The killings have been rampant in Mwanza, Mara, Shinyanga, Kigoma in the Lake Victoria zone neighbouring Uganda and in Kagera near Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Police statistics show that Mwanza has the highest number of witchdoctors with at least 3,000 registered.
Every parent of an albino child has good reason to be frightened. Attackers snatch albino babies from their parents’ arms or attack them on the way to school. Others break into homes and grab them at gun-point.
According to a BBC report, last month, one albino, Nyerere Rutahiro, was having supper in his home’s modest rural compound when four strangers burst in. His wife could not restrain them from hacking Rutahiro’s arms and legs with machetes.
She said Rutahiro bled to death while his hackers took off with his limbs. The community mobilised to bury the father of two in a cement-sealed grave to protect it against grave robbers who were expected to return for the other body parts.
The BBC hired a sorcerer-turned-born again to do an undercover story. Shilinde, 41, had confessed at Sengerema Evangelical Lutheran Church that he had been a wizard since the age of three and had fled his region for fear that his fellow sorcerers and witches would be angered by his new faith.
Undercover, he found witchdoctors who were promising a magic concoction mixed with ground albino organs. The starting price was $2,000 (sh3.9m) for the vital organs. Another witch boasted that the police were also his customers and that he could make a special potion mixed with ground male and female private parts to enable people to commit armed robbery without being caught. The police are investigating the claims.
Albinos have gone into hiding, while others have flocked urban centres where they feel a little safer. In Dar es Salaam, the albino community organised a rally to denounce the killings and called for more protection.
Tanzania Police say witchdoctors, middlemen and the clients who pay for albino body parts are among the 173 people in custody so far. None has been prosecuted. For a long time, albinos have been marginalised as society deems them a curse.
They live in perpetual fear, struggling with the stigma of being branded ‘white men’, yet at the same time enduring the reality of being born in a family where everyone else is black.
David Wangode, the chairperson of the Albino Association in Uganda, says when he was born 41 years ago, his father wanted to kill him but his mother resisted. “He did not touch me. He was too scared of the colour,†said Wangode, in an interview with CBS News last year.
Children and teachers were also afraid of him. after he graduated, he took jobs his mother could get him, always hidden in the background, and working in the early morning and late in the evening.
FACT FILE
Albinism is an inherited genetic condition characterised by the lack of the pigment melanin in the skin, eyes, and hair.
Without melanin, an albino has very pale skin, visual problems and increased risk of skin cancer.
Albinism affects people from all races. Most children with albinism are born to parents with normal skin colour. There is no cure for albinism, but treatment can help the symptoms. Avoiding exposure to UV light and using high-factor sunscreen are essential. Ante-natal testing for the condition could also help.