Tanzania
must find an albino girl kidnapped in December, the country's top UN official
said. At least 74 albinos have been murdered in the east African country since
2000 with only 10 convictions for the crime.
Deutsche Welle, 9 Jan 2015
"The
government must conduct a full investigation into the matter and arrest the
perpetrators," said UN country chief, Alvaro Rodriguez, after visiting the
worst affected regions in northern Tanzania on Friday. He urged Tanzania to
give the investigation the "highest priority" and expressed
"outrage" at a series of attacks on albinos, whose body parts are
sold for witchcraft.
"We'll
do what we can in cooperation with the government to ensure that the girl is
brought back," Rodriguez said.
Armed
kidnappers seized four-year-old Pendo Emmanuelle Nundi on December 27 from her
home in the northern Mwanza region. The police have since arrested 15 people,
including the girl's father and two uncles. Police authorities have also given
villagers five days to find the missing girl.
They abduct
them, kill them and sell their body parts
Top local
government official Magesa Mulongo visited the village appealing for more
information on the kidnapped child. "The whole world now considers the villagers
as having no heart," Mulongo said.
In August
last year a UN rights expert warned that attacks against albinos were on the
rise because Tanzania's October 2015 presidential election was on the horizon,
encouraging political campaigners to turn to influential sorcerers for support.
The
Tanzanian government's system of rounding up children with albinism in
state-run education centers isn't adequately protecting them from widespread
superstitious belief that human albino body parts will bring wealth and success,
or cure disease. That's why kidnappers usually armed with machetes abduct
albino children, kill them and sell their body parts for around $600 (with an
entire corpse fetching $75,000).
1,400
people with albinism
People with
the genetic condition, characterized by a lack of pigment in the skin, are
often referred to as ghosts in Tanzania, or as "zero zero", which
means someone who is less than human in the Swahili language. Witch doctors
often lead brutal attacks to use albino body parts in potions they claim bring
riches.
One out of
every 1,400 citizens in Tanzania has albinism. By comparison, the global
average is about one in 20,000 people, according to Canada-based albinism
advocacy group Under the Same Sun.
jil/gb (AFP/AP)
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