News and Politics | July 22, 2008 | 11 comments

Victims of a witch hunt

source: http://abcnews.go.com/International/story?id=5331015&page=1

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Discrimination against albinos is a serious problem throughout Sub-Saharan Africa, but in Tanzania it has taken a sickening twist: at least 19 albinos, including children, have been killed or mutilated in the past year. They are victims of what local officials say is a growing criminal trade in albino body parts.

Officials say witch doctors are marketing albino skin, bones and hair as ingredients in potions that promise to make people rich. As the threats have increased, the government has acted to protect its albino population – a beleaguered group whose members are often shunned as outcasts and die of skin cancer before they reach 30.

The police are drawing up a list of the country's albinos to protect them. Officers are escorting albino children to school. Tanzanian president Jakaya Kikwete even sponsored an albino woman for a seat in parliament to show "we are with them in this," says Salvator Rweyemamu, a government spokesman.
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