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ramonmercado AKA Dora Kaplan Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 7414 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
 Posted: 03-10-2008 17:35 Post subject: |
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| Quote: | Albinos in Burundi flee killings
Albinos in Burundi have been taking refuge after three of them were killed by gangs apparently seeking to sell body parts in neighbouring Tanzania.
Four albinos were moved to a provincial centre on Thursday in Ruyigi, Burundi, where police were protecting them, the BBC's Prime Ndikumagenge reports.
Authorities have arrested six people in connection with the murder of an albino teenage girl in August.
The attacks follow the killing of 26 Tanzanian albinos in less than a year.
A BBC correspondent's investigation there revealed that witchdoctors were behind the killings.
They sought albino body parts for potions that they claimed could make people rich.
Two of the albinos killed in Burundi - a man and a teenage girl - were reportedly found dead with their legs and arms missing.
Police said the tip of the girl's tongue was also removed.
Neighbours of another teenage albino girl killed in Ruyigi in August chased away her attackers, six of whom were later apprehended as they came to retrieve her body parts.
They are said to have told police that they were planning to sell the body parts in Tanzania.
Our correspondent says that albinos in Burundi - estimated to number around 200 - are now living in fear for their lives.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/africa/7649420.stm |
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| ramonmercado AKA Dora Kaplan Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 7414 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 27-01-2009 17:05 Post subject: |
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| Quote: | Tanzania 'healers' flout ban
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7851287.stm
Tanzania's only albino MP has been trying to fight prejudice
Traditional healers in Tanzania are defying a government ban announced on Friday, intended to stop the killings of people with albinism for ritual medicine.
A BBC correspondent has seen at least 10 healers working openly.
It comes days after the latest murder of an albino man in Tanzania brought the national death toll to at least 40 since mid-2007.
The killers reportedly sell albino body parts - including limbs, hair, skin and genitals - to witchdoctors.
Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda said on Friday the government was revoking the licences of all traditional healers with immediate effect.
Leg chopped off
"These witchdoctors are big liars," he said at a rally in the northern Shinyanga region.
But the BBC's Vicky Ntetema said it was business as usual for the traditional healers she visited on Monday just outside the biggest city Dar es Salaam.
I believe it would have been better if the PM had consulted us before announcing the ban
Haruna Kifimbo
Traditional healer
A spokesman for a traditional healers' association has criticised the ban.
Arusha-based herbalist Haruna Kifimbo told the Citizen newspaper: "We are legally registered, they should be dealing with some state organs who have not done much to stop the wave of albino killings."
He claimed members of his association were offering services to more than 30% of the country's population.
"We have so many patients and clients who depend on us," he told the Citizen. "I believe it would have been better if the PM had consulted us before announcing the ban."
In the most recent case last Wednesday an albino man - named as Jonas Maduka - was killed in Sogoso village in the north-western Mwanza region.
He was reportedly eating dinner at home when some people called and asked for his help.
When he went outside he was strangled, before his assailants chopped off his leg and made away with the limb.
The Tanzanian authorities have arrested more than 90 people in recent months - including four police officers - on suspicion of killing albinos or of trading in their body parts.
There are thought to be more than 200,000 albinos in the country, which has a total population of 40 million.
The killings have spread to neighbouring states, with at least one albino murder each in Burundi and Kenya last year.
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| ramonmercado AKA Dora Kaplan Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 7414 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 24-02-2009 18:47 Post subject: |
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| Quote: | Tanzania illegal healers arrested
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7906645.stm
Three traditional healers in northern Tanzania have been arrested for defying a government ban issued last month.
It was meant to stop killings of people with albinism for ritual medicine.
Their arrest follows charges against a pastor, who was allegedly found in south-western Tanzania in possession of the body parts of an albino.
The BBC's Vicky Ntetema in Dar es Salaam says this case is blow to people with albinism, some of whom have been seeking refugee in churches.
The pastor - Cosmas Mwasenga - was arrested in the Mbeya region and faces the death penalty if found guilty.
The three traditional healers had been travelling around the northern district of Serengeti in a car using a public address system to let their clients know that they were still open for business.
Their arrests come days after the murder of a 14-year-old albino girl in the northern Mwanza region, bringing the national death toll to 45 since mid-2007.
The killers reportedly sell albino body parts - including limbs, hair, skin and genitals - to witchdoctors to make potions that purport to make people wealthy.
Our reporter says more than 200 people - including witchdoctors, their clients, hired killers and some of the victims' relatives - have been arrested in connection with the killings in the last year.
No-one has so far been convicted, she says.
There are thought to be more than 200,000 albinos in the country, which has a total population of 40 million.
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| ramonmercado AKA Dora Kaplan Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 7414 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 02-03-2009 19:03 Post subject: |
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| Quote: | Tanzanians to name albino killers
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7918960.stm
Many people with albinism are living in fear in Tanzania
Tanzania is launching a nationwide exercise urging the public to identify those behind dozens of murders of people with albinism.
In the secret "referendum", citizens will be invited to write down on slips of paper the names of those they suspect of involvement.
Legal officials will gather the names and pass them to the police.
President Jakaya Kikwete said the public should not fear retribution for naming the culprits.
The killers reportedly sell albino body parts - including limbs, hair, skin and genitals - to witchdoctors who make potions promising to make people wealthy.
In the past 15 months, 45 albinos have been slaughtered in Tanzania.
'Political ploy'
But there are concerns the process could be flawed and lead to accusations against innocent people.
Edmund Sengondo Mvungi, a law lecturer at Dar es Salaam University, told the BBC News website: "When you invite people to accuse their neighbours of such a serious crime, you give them the opportunity to settle scores.
People should feel free to name those who are behind these barbaric killings and other criminal acts within their localities
President Jakaya Kikwete
"This shouldn't be subjected to a vote-like process. It's a political ploy to please those who say the government is not doing enough to solve these murders."
President Kikwete announced the nationwide exercise during his end of the month speech on Saturday.
It will start within the next fortnight in the Lake Zone regions of Mwanza, Kagera, Mara and Shinyanga - where 44 out of the 45 albino murders have taken place.
Superstitious miners and fishermen in the region hoping to get rich quick have been accused of fuelling the demand for the potions.
The exercise will then continue in phases throughout the southern highlands, central, western, eastern, and northern regions, said the president.
"Our idea is to ensure the problem is eliminated and the country's image to the international community is cleansed," Mr Kikwete said on national TV.
"People should feel free to name those who are behind these barbaric killings and other criminal acts within their localities."
Boasting
Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda, who recently wept in parliament as he bewailed the albino murders, is to launch the campaign.
The BBC's Vicky Ntetema in Dar es Salaam says it is not clear how effective the exercise will be in a society which believes in witchcraft and whose confidence in the legal system is wearing thin.
A recent BBC investigation found some witchdoctors openly boasting that they were working with the police.
Our reporter says more than 200 people - including alleged witchdoctors, their clients, hired killers and some of the victims' relatives - have been arrested in connection with the killings in the last year.
No-one has so far been convicted, she says.
The United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon last week decried the albino killings during his official visit to the country.
Last week, in neighbouring Burundi, assailants reportedly dismembered a six-year-old albino boy in his home in front of his parents, the eighth albino killing in that country.
The government issued a ban on all traditional healers in January in an effort to stop the killings and several have been arrested since then on suspicion of flouting the order.
Last month, a pastor was charged in Tanzania with being found in possession of the body parts of an albino.
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| atouchofjack Grey Joined: 05 Mar 2009 Total posts: 2 Location: explorer Gender: Unknown |
| Posted: 06-03-2009 18:06 Post subject: |
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| atouchofjack Grey Joined: 05 Mar 2009 Total posts: 2 Location: explorer Gender: Unknown |
| Posted: 06-03-2009 18:07 Post subject: |
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| ramonmercado AKA Dora Kaplan Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 7414 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 18-03-2009 15:49 Post subject: |
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| Quote: | Gambians 'taken by witch doctors'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7949173.stm
Witch doctor in Mozambique (file pic)
Traditional healers, often called witch doctors, use ancient treatments
Up to 1,000 Gambian villagers have been abducted by "witch doctors" to secret detention centres and forced to drink potions, a human rights group says.
Amnesty International said some forced to drink the concoctions developed kidney problems, and two had died.
Officials in the police, army and the president's personal protection guard had accompanied the "witch doctors" in the bizarre roundup, said witnesses.
Gambia's government was unavailable to comment on the claims.
The human rights group asserted that many of those abducted were elderly.
The London-based rights group said the witch hunters, said to be from neighbouring Guinea, were invited into Gambia after the death of the president's aunt earlier this year was blamed on witchcraft.
Kate Allen, Amnesty's UK director, said hundreds of Gambians have fled to neighbouring Senegal for safety after seeing their villages attacked.
"The Gambian government has to put a stop to this campaign, investigate these attacks immediately and bring those responsible to justice," she said.
'Diarrhoea and vomiting'
Amnesty spoke to villagers who said they had been held for up to five days and forced to drink unknown substances, which they said caused them to hallucinate and behave erratically.
The paramilitary police armed with guns and shovels surrounded our village and threatened that anyone who tries to escape will be buried six feet under
Eyewitness
Many said they were then forced to confess to being witches. In some cases, they were also allegedly severely beaten, almost to the point of death.
Eyewitnesses and victims told Amnesty the "witch doctors" were from neighbouring Guinea.
As well as police, army and national intelligence agents, they were also reportedly joined by "green boys" - personal protection guards of Gambian President Yahya Jammeh.
Amnesty said the incidents took place in the Foni Kansala district, near to the president's hometown in Kanilai.
In the most recent incident, said to have taken place on 9 March, hundreds of people from Sintet village were allegedly rounded up.
One eyewitness told the rights group: "The paramilitary police armed with guns and shovels surrounded our village and threatened the villagers that anyone who tries to escape will be buried six feet under."
Three hundred men and women were allegedly randomly identified and forced at gunpoint into waiting buses, which ferried them to Kanilai.
Once there, they were stripped and forced to drink dirty herbal water and were bathed with herbs, the eyewitness said.
Many of those who drank the concoctions developed instant diarrhoea and vomiting, the eyewitness added.
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| ramonmercado AKA Dora Kaplan Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 7414 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 24-07-2009 13:41 Post subject: |
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| Quote: | Jail over Burundi albino murders
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8166273.stm
Witchdoctors claim potions made from albinos bring luck and love
One person has been sentenced to life in prison and eight others to jail in Burundi over the murder of albinos whose remains were sold for witchcraft.
Three other suspects were acquitted by the court in Ruyigi province over the the killings of at least 12 albinos.
The victims were mutilated and their body parts sold in neighbouring Tanzania for use in potions.
In addition to the killing of albinos in Burundi, more than 40 have been killed in Tanzania.
In addition to the life sentence, those convicted were jailed for between one and 15 years.
The trial is believed to be the first linked to a spate of albino killings in East Africa since 2007.
Witchdoctors in the region claim potions made with albino body parts will bring those who use them luck in love, life and business.
An association campaigning for the rights of albinos in Burundi says the authorities are now taking the killings seriously, but more needs to be done.
At least 200 people have been arrested over the trade in Tanzania, but none has been convicted.
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| jubecrew Now Entering Ewok Country
Great Old One Joined: 08 Jun 2009 Total posts: 150 Location: St. Catharines, ON Age: 27 Gender: Male |
| Posted: 25-07-2009 23:09 Post subject: |
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| Obeahs will always exist. They make up your voodoo, hoodoo practitioners and often times is used for more harm then good. |
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| ramonmercado AKA Dora Kaplan Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 7414 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 23-09-2009 13:38 Post subject: |
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| Quote: | Death for Tanzania albino killers
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8270446.stm
Albino people live in fear in Tanzania and Burundi
A court in north-western Tanzania has sentenced three men to death by hanging for killing a 14-year-old albino boy.
They were found guilty of attacking Matatizo Dunia and severing his legs in Bukombe district in Shinyanga province.
Albino body parts are used in potions sold by witchdoctors promising wealth. Tanzania has seen an unprecedented rise in the killings in recent years.
Dozens of people have been arrested, but the justice system is notoriously slow and this is the first conviction.
There are 50 other cases of killings of albino people before the courts.
The Tanzanian government has publicly stated its desire to end the killings.
In March, President Jakaya Kikwete called on Tanzanians to come forward with any information they might have.
In July a court in neighbouring Burundi sentenced one person to life in prison and eight others to jail for the murder of albino people whose remains were sold in Tanzania.
There are estimated to be about 17,000 albino people living in Tanzania. They lack pigment in their skin and appear pale.
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| ramonmercado AKA Dora Kaplan Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 7414 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 25-09-2009 15:46 Post subject: |
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| Quote: | Albino killers 'should be hanged'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8273139.stm
Albino people live in fear in Tanzania and Burundi
The Tanzania Albino Society (Tas) has called for the men found guilty of killing an albino boy to be hanged publicly as a warning to others.
A court sentenced them to death for attacking the boy and severing his legs for use in witchdoctors' potions.
The BBC's John Ngahyoma in Dar es Salaam says there are more than 100 people on death row, but no-one has been executed in more than 15 years.
But Tas chairman Ernest Kimaya urged the president to endorse the sentence.
"I want other perpetrators to learn - seeing is believing," he told the BBC.
Mr Kimaya told Tanzania's Citizen newspaper that a public execution would also "show that the government is serious in its war on albino killers".
In the past two years, 53 albino people have been murdered in Tanzania.
Albino people, who lack pigment in their skin and appear pale, are killed because potions made from their body parts are believed to bring good luck and wealth.
The Tanzanian government has publicly stated its desire to end the killings.
In March, President Jakaya Kikwete called on Tanzanians to come forward with any information they might have.
Reprisal fears
Officials banned witchdoctors from practising, however many have continued to work.
Living in fear: Tanzania's albinos
In hiding for exposing witchdoctors
Many of Tanzania's estimated 17,000 albino people are now living in fear, especially in villages in the north-west where the majority of the murders have occurred.
The case in Kahama on Wednesday was the first conviction in Tanzania for an albino killing.
Correspondents say there is also a fear of reprisal killings as witchdoctors and their clients wield a lot of power in their communities.
Witchdoctors in Tanzania and other parts of East Africa have made tens of thousands of dollars from selling potions and other items made from the bones, hair, skin and genitals of dead albino people.
They pay a lot of money for body parts.
In July a court in neighbouring Burundi sentenced one person to life in prison and eight others to jail for the murder of albino people whose remains were sold in Tanzania.
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| ramonmercado AKA Dora Kaplan Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 7414 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 02-11-2009 21:06 Post subject: |
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| Quote: | Albino killers get death penalty
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8338838.stm
Albino people in a safe haven in Tanzania, 01/09
Albino people live in fear throughout Tanzania
Four Tanzanians have been sentenced to death by hanging for killing an albino man last year - one of a spate of such murders in the country.
The court, in the northern town of Shinyanga, convicted them of murdering the man and removing his head and legs.
In September three men were sentenced to death for murdering an albino boy - the first such ruling in Tanzania.
Witchdoctors sell good-luck potions made from the body parts of albino people for thousands of dollars.
More than 50 albino people are thought to have been murdered in the past two years in Tanzania.
Analysts say thousands of albino people are now living in fear, especially in villages in the north-west where the majority of the murders have occurred.
The killings have also spread to neighbouring Burundi, where at least 12 people have been murdered.
The BBC's Eric Nampesya in Shinyanga says many Tanzanians are happy with the ruling because they believe it is sending a message that such killings will not be tolerated.
But he says some are questioning whether there is a bigger network of criminals behind the killings - and they want those who deal in body parts to be punished.
The four men are expected to appeal against their sentence, our reporter says.
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