13 Mar 2015

Albino-trade witchdoctor arrests in Tanzania

1:16 pm on 13 March 2015

More than 200 witch-doctors and traditional healers have been arrested in Tanzania in a crackdown on the murder of albino people.

Women carrying their albino children on May 5, 2014, Tanzania.

Albinism is particularly prevalent in Tanzania with one in 1,400 affected, according to some reports. Photo: AFP

The killings have been driven by the belief - advanced by some witch-doctors - that the body parts have properties that confer wealth and good luck.

President Jakaya Kikwete has described the murder of albino people as an "evil" that has shamed Tanzania.

The UN said nearly 80 albino Tanzanians had been killed since 2000.

The latest victims included a one-year-old albino boy, killed in north-western Tanzania a few weeks ago.

The government banned witch-doctors in January as part of its efforts to prevent further attacks and kidnappings targeting people with albinism.

Last week alone, 32 witch-doctors were detained.

"Some of those arrested were found in possession of items like lizard skin, warthog teeth, ostrich eggs, monkey tails, bird claws, mule tails and lion skin," police spokesperson Advera Bulimba told the AFP news agency

According to the Red Cross, witch-doctors were prepared to pay $100,000 for a complete set of albino body parts.

Albinism is particularly prevalent in Tanzania with one in 1,400 affected, according to a 2006 BMC Public Health report. That compares with one in 20,000 in Western countries.

Some researchers believed the higher rate was a result of inbreeding.

- BBC