Tanzania has revoked the licenses of all its traditional healers in a bid to halt the killings of albinos whose body parts are used for witchcraft. At least 40 albinos have been killed since the middle of 2007. Around 90 people have been arrested over the past few months suspected of involvement in killing albinos or trading their body parts. Albinos lack pigment in their eyes, skin or hair, making them vulnerable to skin cancer and burns in Africa's sunny climate. They have always had a difficult time of it but, since witch doctors started using their body parts a few years ago, their lives have become hell.

"I fear for my child," says Samuel Miliyo, "I don't let him go to school alone." Samuel and his son, Molle, are part of the Masai people and live just outside Arusha in northern Tanzania, at the foot of Mount Meru, with a glorious view of the savannas below.

Molle is seven years old and albino. He peeps out from under his wide-brimmed hat, his pupils flickering in an attempt to focus. Sun and bright lights are agony. "Last week, some older boys came up and started hitting me. They called me ‘mzungu', a whitie".

Zero-zero
Molle cannot go to school anymore. His poor eyesight means he is barely able to read and his father has no money for glasses. The teacher told him he should go to a school for the disabled, but for that he would have to be 14. "The teacher said I was ‘zero-zero', Molle explains innocently. "I have no idea what he meant."

Mr Miliyo sends him away and whispers: "Zero-zero means the devil's spawn. Until not so long ago, the Masai killed albino babies immediately after birth. How can I convince my people that I want my son to live?"

Gibson Mullen (40) feels like a nervous gazelle on the plains. In his Arusha office, he holds the bill for his newly acquired pistol close to his weak eyes. "It cost me 1.4 million shillings (just under 800 euros). I've not been able to pay it off yet. We albinos have to protect ourselves, otherwise we'll be hacked to pieces."

The albino curse
An albino in Africa is a curse. The grave of a recently deceased albino in Arusha is covered with a thick layer of cement. This is to prevent the body being dug up and cut into pieces. Mr Gibson tells how over 70 albinos have been murdered over the last 14 months, their body parts destined for use in witchcraft.

Albinos are ordinary people, with a deficiency of pigment which protects against the sun's ultraviolet rays. In superstitious Africa, this has to be explained over and over again. The sun burns their skin and can cause cancer, while their already weak eyes find it difficult to deal with bright light. Good sun cream and glasses can mean the difference between heaven and hell, but their cost remains out of the reach of Tanzania's estimated 170,000 albinos.

Witch doctors
In the past, albinos had a difficult enough time because of the superstition surrounding them but, for a few years now, their lives have been made wretched because witch doctors have started making use of their body parts. Mkombozi Omari is the head of Tanzania's Traditional Doctors' Association. Does he chop up albinos? "There are herbal doctors and there are witch doctors," he answers sharply, "I am a herbal doctor".

A herbal doctor is schooled in the secrets of using wild plants to cure illnesses. Chicken soup made with certain roots increases women's fertility and men's potency. "Mr Omari is adamant that herbal doctors "do not use human body parts".

Traditional remedies are very popular in Africa. It is estimated that more than 50 percent of Africans make use of herbal remedies rather than Western medicine. It is difficult to say where herbal medicine ends and hocus-pocus begins. Mr Omari has a potion to bring good luck when doing exams, proposing marriage and playing the stock exchange. "Look here, if you rub this root-juice potion on your forehead, your boss will say yes to that wage rise". However, he immediately qualifies himself: "You have to believe in God of course. Otherwise, it doesn't work."

It remains a mystery who is behind the wave of albino murders. Although about 40 suspects are in custody, no one has been found guilty. "It is greed," one Arusha lawyer explains. "Criminals here are getting rich from it. They arrange the murders, sell the potions to the witch doctors, who sell them on for high prices to the gullible." The Tanzanian government has been embarrassed by the murders and the primitive beliefs behind them. An albino MP has been brought into the administration to let it be seen that the use of body parts in witchcraft is being tackled.

Group raises awareness of albinism plight

An international fact finding group comprising members from Canada, the United States, South Africa and Tanzania spoke to hundreds of people within the Tanzanian albinism community in 2008. Many of them said at the time that government and police did nothing to prosecute the killers of people with albinism.

The group, sent to Tanzania by Canada-based interest group Under The Same Sun, also spoke to government officials. Despite their assurances that the government was doing everything possible, public records show that there has not been a singe prosecution of any murder suspect. The trade in albino body parts continues unhindered, fuelled by superstitious beliefs.

On its website Under The Same Sun is calling for international support to help the Tanzanian government end the " slaughter of innocent civilians".

Their site is at http://www.underthesamesun.com/

* RNW translation (mw)

Written by: Koert Lindijer in Arusha