Tanzania: Statists thought to be involved in albino killings

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon condemned the killing of albinos in Tanzania, where at least 45 of them have died since November 2007 in murders linked to witchcraft.

"I have heard much of these killings. It is a very serious issue and I am very sad to hear what is happening," Ban told reporters in the Tanzanian commercial capital late on Friday.

"We strongly condemn such killings and violation of human rights, and support initiatives by Tanzanian authorities to address the issue," he said.

Last week, police arrested two people suspected of slaughtering a teenage albino girl and chopping off her legs in northern Tanzania.

The practice has also been reported in neighbouring Burundi, where a six-year-old albino boy was dismembered alive in his home in the country's northern region this week.

Attackers hunt the albinos for their body parts which they sell to sorcerers to make lucky charms.

Fishermen and small-scale miners were initially believed to be the sorcerers' main customers.

But albino body parts can now fetch thousands of dollars in Tanzania, and a string of botched trials and fruitless arrests have raised suspicion that bigger players could be involved in the gruesome trade.

LNK

Tanzania: Statists thought to be involved in albino killings

Tanzania: Statists thought to be involved in albino killings

Anarcho-Capitalist Categorical Imperatives

AnCaps On Rights, Individualism & Lifestyles