LILONGWE // When the police went to Edna Cedrick’s home last February, she knew it could not be for any good reason. In fact, it was the stuff of nightmares. The police asked her to identify the severed head of a boy as that of her nine-year-old son.
Edna’s son was killed because he had albinism, a condition that meant his body lacked pigmentation. In Malawi, where many people still cling to witchcraft and ancient rituals that meant he was literally beyond the pale.
Albinos are hunted for their body parts which are then sold to witch doctors to use in potions which supposedly bring good luck and prosperity. There is also belief that the bones of people with albinism contain gold and that sex with an albino can cure HIV.
The death of Edna’s son was one of at least 18 in as many months — “ a steep upsurge in killings”, according to a report released on Tuesday by Amnesty International. Five other albinos are still missing following abduction. The real toll is probably higher because many killings in rural areas are never reported. Malawi police have also recorded at least 65 attacks, abductions and murders since the end of 2014, including cases where the bodies of people with albinism have been exhumed illegally.
“The unprecedented wave of brutal attacks against people with albinism has created a climate of terror for this vulnerable group and their families,” said Deprose Muchena, Amnesty International’s director for southern Africa, said.
Mass unemployment, drought and a crackdown on witchcraft in neighbouring Tanzania are all cited as possible reasons for the increase in attacks on albinos, who number 10,000 out of a population of 16.5 million and face discrimination from their community and even from their relatives. Children have been attacked by close family members and even sold by their parents, said Simeon Mawanza, lead researcher of the Amnesty report.,
Despite widespreads public condemnation by activists and senior government figures, including president Peter Mutharika, who declared the practice “disgusting”, and a court order banning all traditional healers, witch doctors, charm producers, magic users and fortune tellers” from operating, nothing seems to deter those who prey on albinos. .
Edna was alone with her twin boys — both of them albinos — when her son was taken in the middle of the night. She awoke to the sound of people kicking down the door of her house. “Before I could understand what was happening, they sliced the mosquito net and grabbed one of the twins,” said Edna, 26.“I held on to him by the waist, at the same time shielding the other with my back.”
When the assailants failed to overpower her, one of them hit her in the forehead with a machete, she said. “This dazed me, and I lost hold of my son and he was gone. I shouted for help, but when my relatives rushed to our house, they were gone.”
The boy’s twin keeps asking where his brother is, she said. She lies, saying he will return.
In another part of Malawi, Fletcher Masina, a 38-year-old albino man with four children was also found dead recently, with his limbs removed.
Police concede that they do not have the manpower to provide security, especially in rural areas where such attacks are rampant. .In Machinga district, Razik Jaffalie, 31, said he had been forced to give up his job as a bicycle taxi operator to protect his son, Cassim, and was in dire financial straits.
“My life has come to a standstill,” said Razik Jaffalie, 31. “Anyone who will come to try to snatch my child from me will have to kill me first.”
There have been some lucky escapes. Mina Godfrey, 13, an albino girl also from Machinga district survived being snatched from her bed at night by her uncle. “I was deep in sleep when next thing I realised was that I was outside the house in heavy rain and naked,” she said. “When I screamed, my uncle grabbed me by the scruff of my neck and I choked.”
She was tied to a bicycle but managed to flee while her attackers negotiated with the buyer, and his in a nearby house until the morning. Despite her trauma, Mina recently came top in her school exams and aspires to a career as a lawyer.
Deprose Muchena, Amnesty International’s director for southern Africa, concluded: “The time has come for the government of Malawi to stop burying its head in the sand and pretending that this problem will just go away.”
* Associated Press
