According to local residents, witch doctors use albino organs and bones in concoctions to divine for diamonds in the soil, while fishermen have been known to weave albino hair into their nets hoping for a big catch on Lake Victoria.
Nine-year-old Amani at the Mitindo Primary School for the blind, where he enrolled following the murder of a sibling, five-year-old Mariam Emmanuel, an albino who was murdered and mutilated in February 2008.
Tanzanians urged to identify Albino killers.
At least 40 albinos have been killed in a spate of ritual albino murders in Tanzania since mid-2007 and the country's president has urged the public to come forward and identify the killers in private. Police and officials will deploy police in 22 regions next week and offer people the chance to confidentially name the culprits.
At least 90 people, including four police officers, have been arrested in recent months for involvement in the killings or the trade in albino body parts -- which witchdoctors tell their clients will bring them luck in love, life and business.
The violence has also spread to neighbouring states, with at least one albino murder each in Burundi and Kenya last year. Police in those countries say Tanzanians ordered the killings.
The killing of albinos for witchcraft is not unique to east Africa. It is a common problem in several west African nations and one of the films at the pan-African film and television festival this year is about an albino murdered in Mali.
There are thought to be more than 200,000 albinos in Tanzania, which has an overall population of some 40 million.
During a visit to Tanzania last week, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon demanded an end to what he called "superstitious behaviour“ and an "unacceptable violation of human rights.“
Read more at http://www.welt.de/english-news/article3316685/Tanzanians-urged-to-identify-albino-killers.html
I'm in shock and in tears. I'm speechless and I want to hop on the plane and go there. This is something I can't forget. If this, is still happening in two-thousand-and-fucking-nine, we have to do something. Gimme a small period, bah. x
source: welt.de
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