© Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP/Getty ImagesAt least 74 people with albinism have reportedly been murdered in the east African country since 2000.
Tanzania has banned witchdoctors in an attempt to combat a rise in the
killing of people with albinism for their body parts, officials said on Wednesday.
At least 74 people with albinism have reportedly been murdered in the east African country since 2000. After a surge in 2009, the government placed children with albinism in special homes to protect them.
Witchdoctors believe their body parts bring good fortune and wealth. Isaac Nantanga, an interior ministry spokesman,
told Agence France-Presse: "These so-called witches bear responsibility for the attacks against albinos."
The government and the
Tanzania Albinism Society have agreed to form a taskforce to conduct special operations against the kidnaps, abductions and murders. But the society warned that a ban on witchcraft alone does not go far enough. Ziziyada Nsembo, its secretary-general, said on Wednesday: "It's just a starting point. The government should understand it is an endless story from 2006 until this time. No action has been taken to stop the killings."
Witchdoctors may not be the ultimate source of the problem, she added. "We haven't seen where these hands, legs and skin are taken. This is the big question. If the witchdoctors will tell us that they are taken to somebody, and what purpose they are used for, we will be in a better position. Through the witchdoctors we can reach the real culprits. That is our one demand: for the government to find these people."
A hereditary genetic condition that causes an absence of pigmentation in the skin, hair and eyes, albinism affects one Tanzanian in 1,400, according to experts. It affects just one person in 20,000 in the west.
Body parts sell for around $600 in Tanzania, with an entire corpse fetching $75,000. A US survey in 2010 found that while most people in Tanzania are Christian or Muslim, 93% said they believed in witchcraft. Despite the scourge, only 10 people have been convicted of murder.
Comment: Kudos to these courageous people for refusing to support genocide.