It is an unknown scourge of the African continent. A superstition that costs the lives of many albino infants, especially in several countries in southern Africa. A father who wanted to sell his three albinos children to have their bodies used in witchcraft practices was arrested in northwestern Mozambique before the deal was finalized, police from the country said on Monday.
Police in the Tete region, crossed by the majestic Zambezi River, arrested the father and uncle of the three children last weekend after being alarmed by an anonymous denunciation. The three children were to be sold to neighboring Malawi for a total sum of around 38,000 euros, local police spokesman Feliciano da Câmara said at a press conference.
After the anonymous call, “we did some research and it was possible to rescue the three children aged 9 to 16 who were in captivity,” he added, specifying that the father, like the uncle, was fully involved denied this alleged human trafficking.
witch rituals
In southern Africa, albinos are victims of discrimination and are targets of attacks. Parts of their bodies are used in witchcraft rituals believed to bring good luck and health. Counselors, healers, magicians or soothsayers, called “Waganga” in Swahili, use human remains of people with albinism.
Some “Waganga” believe that albino people’s hair, bones, genitals, or thumbs have specific powers. Dried, pounded and packaged or spread out at sea, these chunks of beings born with a lack of melanin production in a country where the majority of residents are black-skinned, reportedly blowing up a fishing net, reveal the presence of gold in a field or to win votes for a politician, among other things…
4,000 euros … an albino arm
In Tanzania, for example, a medicine made from albino body parts can cost as much as 100,000 Tanzanian shillings ($50) in a country where the average annual salary is around $2,500, according to National Geographic. An albino arm can bring a magician up to $4,000. The situation on the continent has been known for several years and several NGOs denounce government inaction against these abuses. The Regional Conference of Catholic Bishops has also called for the introduction of awareness programs against the ritual trade of albinos in southern Africa.
A fate difficult to combat in societies where maraboutism is still very present in families. “We are supposed to bring good luck and our body parts are used to bring good luck and for politicians to win their campaign,” Nommassent Mazibuko, director of the Albinism Society in South Africa, tells the BBC, before clarifying that these ritual crimes are “in Tanzania started, people were killed and there were never any criminal proceedings”.
According to a 2019 United Nations report, more than 80 albinos have been killed in Tanzania since 2000, and there have been at least 18 killings in Malawi since 2014. Albinism is a genetic disease characterized by the complete or partial absence of pigment in the skin. hair and eyes.