Killers chop off albino's leg
2009-01-22 22:13
Dar es Salaam - Criminals with suspected links to witch doctors murdered an albino man in northern Tanzania and chopped off his right leg, an official said on Thursday.
The latest in a string of murders targeting albinos - whose limbs and organs are used by local sorcerers to make charms - took place on Wednesday in the Mwanza region, on the shores of Lake Victoria.
Mwanza Regional Commissioner Alex Msekela named the deceased as Jonas Maduka, a resident of Sogoso village.
"The victim was having supper in his house at around 15:00 (12:00 GMT) with his family. Some people called at his house and told him that they had a problem and wanted his help immediately," the official told AFP.
"The unsuspecting Jonas walked out, as required, and was strangled and had his right leg chopped off. The assailants left with the leg," Msekela told AFP, adding that police were hunting the murderers.
The grisly killing came only a day after a visit to Mwanza by Tanzanian Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda and Shaymaa Kwegyr, an albino lawmaker appointed last year by President Jakaya Kikwete.
During his tour of regions affected by the killing, Pinda announced a raft of measures aimed at raising awareness, offering protection to albinos and tracking down witch doctors and their accomplices.
In Tanzania, at least 35 albinos, mostly women and children, were killed in 2008, according to the Tanzania Albino society.
Albinism is a congenital lack of the melanin pigment in the skin, eyes and hair which protects the body against the sun's ultraviolet rays. Albinos are vulnerable to medical complications and, in Africa, to social discrimination.
Murders of albinos have also been reported in Burundi.