Over 200 people have been
arrested in Tanzania as part of a nationwide crackdown on witchdoctors linked
to a wave of albino attacks and murders, police said on Thursday. Police
arrested 225 unlicensed traditional healers and soothsayers during a special
operation carried out in several parts of the east African country and due to
be extended to all 30 regions.
“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,” said police spokesperson,
Advera Bulimba. Bulimba said the police campaign would target the entire
network of gangsters, traders and witchdoctors.
The mass arrest comes a few
days after President Jakaya Kikwete described as “disgusting and a big
embarrassment for the nation” the ongoing attacks against people with albinism
whose body parts are used for witchcraft.
At least 76 albinos have been
murdered since 2000 with their dismembered body parts selling for around $600
and entire bodies fetching $75,000, according to the UN.
A further 34 albinos have
survived having parts of their bodies hacked off while still alive and grave
robbers have dug up at least 15 more, seeking buried limbs and bodies. Albinism
is a hereditary genetic condition which causes a total absence of pigmentation
in the skin, hair and eyes. It affects one Tanzanian in 1,400, often as a
result of inbreeding, experts say. In the West, it affects just one person in
20,000.
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