tagged w/ Albino Association of Tanzania
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Christian and Muslim leaders in Tanzania are being urged to tell their followers to stop the killing of Albino people and harvesting their body parts for spells.
It is widely believed that body parts from Albino people (including, legs and genitals) if taken to the local witch doctor can bring prosperity and good fortune to the murderer.
Witch doctors are paid cash for the spell and the body parts are used as part of the ceremony.
Many, if not all involved in this practice also regularly attend Church or Mosque, but have also traditionally believed in witchcraft, this is very common in East Africa.
more here http://thecitizen.co.tz/news/4-national-news/391-stop-albino-killings-call.htmlChristian and Muslim leaders in Tanzania are being urged to tell their followers to... more
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I have aprtner and two children who suffer with a similar condition to this called Aniridia. What can we do to help, this is not racisim but something much worse come on get to togther and do something. Now !!I have aprtner and two children who suffer with a similar condition to this called... more
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ATTACKERS murdered and mutilated a Tanzanian albino girl who became the latest victim of gangs who sell body parts as lucky charms to sorcerers.
Albinos in the east African nation of Burundi have left their homes over fears they will be killed by people wanting to sell their body parts in nearby Tanzania. At least four are currently under the watch of police in Ruyigi, reports the BBC. The actions come after an Albino girl was murdered in August and after two murdered albinos were found with their legs and arms missing. There have been 26 albinos killed in Tanzania in under a year. Witchdoctors, who believe they use albino body parts to create potions to make people rich, are thought to be behind the bizarre killings. In fact, after the killing of a teen albino, six of her attackers came back to the murder scene to get her body parts. After they were arrested, they told police they wanted to sell her parts in Tanzania. There are an estimated 200 albinos currently living in Burundi.ATTACKERS murdered and mutilated a Tanzanian albino girl who became the latest victim... more
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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.
Discrimination against albinos is a serious problem throughout Sub-Saharan Africa, but... more
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Twenty-five people with albinism have been murdered in Tanzania since March, a BBC investigation has found. Albinos are targeted for body parts that are used in witchcraft, and killings continue despite government efforts to stamp out the grisly practice, the BBC's Karen Allen says. Once, albinos used to seek shelter from the sun. Now they have gone into hiding simply to survive, after a series of killings linked to witchcraft. In Tanzania, 25 albinos have been killed in the past year. The latest victim was a seven-month-old baby. He was mutilated on the orders of a witchdoctor peddling the belief that potions made from an albino's legs, hair, hands, and blood can make a person rich.
Sorcery and the occult maintain a strong foothold in this part of the world, especially in the remote rural areas around the fishing and mining regions of Mwanza, on the shores of Lake Victoria. Nobody seems to know why the killings are happening now, but Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete is now putting pressure on the police to identify where albinos live and offer them protection. This is not an easy task when BBC investigations suggest that some police are being "bought off" in order to look away when such appalling crimes are committed.
Read more...Twenty-five people with albinism have been murdered in Tanzania since March, a BBC... more
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