Authorities tackle 'witchcraft' killings

It was a hyena that killed the boy, but four elderly women got the blame. Villagers slashed them with machetes, then set fire to their bodies for casting spells on the wild animal.

"They cut her with machetes," said Sufia Shadrack, the daughter of one of the dead women in her small village in Tanzania's northern Mwanza district. "Then they took firewood, mattresses, an iron sheet and burned her like you would cook fish or meat."

In Tanzania, hundreds of people are killed each year accused of being witches.

Like Shadrach's mother, many victims are old, vulnerable or marginalized - or own property that greedy relatives seize after accusing them of witchcraft.

But while some are killed after being falsely accused of black magic, others are murdered by the "sorcerers" themselves: scores of albinos have been murdered and their body parts cooked up for spells.

After UN condemnation, the government this month promised a crackdown on attacks.

However, previous government initiatives have had little or no impact on the deep-seated beliefs.

"I am worried about getting older," said 50-year-old Shadrach, who must walk past the charred wreckage of her mother's house to visit her grave.

"The ones who killed my mother, I don't know how they think about me," she added. "Maybe they will kill me too."

Tanzanian rights groups recorded 765 witchcraft related murders in 2013, but warn the real figure is likely to be higher.

Attacks on the rise

"The huge number of people who have been killed only includes cases reported," said Paul Mikongoti from the Legal and Human Rights Center. "There are so many people that we can't get the number."

Simply having bloodshot eyes can be a sign of "witchcraft", something all too common after decades spent cooking over smoky fires.

At least 74 albinos have been murdered since 2000, according to UN experts, who say an entire corpse can fetch $75,000, a fortune in the impoverished country.

Observers say attacks on albinos are increasing ahead of October's national election, encouraging political campaigners to turn to witch doctors for good luck.

Beliefs of the East African country's 49 million people are roughly divided equally between Islam, Christianity and traditional religions.

But some 93 percent also believe in witchcraft, by far the highest level recorded in a 19-nation African survey by the PEW Research Center in 2010.

While Tanzanian law gives women equal inheritance rights, many oppose that and activists say some relatives use witchcraft as an excuse to grab property.

(China Daily 01/24/2015 page10)