‘We Are Being Hunted Like Animals:’ Malawi’s Albino People Are Threatened By Human Poachers
BY BEENISH AHMED
MAR 4, 2016 10:48 AM
CREDIT: AP PHOTO/MATT ROURKE
Kabula Nkarango Masanja waits during a prosthetic limb fitting, Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2015, at Shriners Hospital for Children in Philadelphia. Kabula and four children from Tanzania are in the U.S. to receive free surgery and prostheses after they were attacked and dismembered in the belief that their body parts will bring wealth.
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Police last week uncovered the severed head of a 9-year-old albino boy who was abducted from his home in eastern Malawi. His brutal killing is suspected to be tied to an increase in albino deaths across East Africa due to beliefs that their bones contain magical properties.
The incident “shows the grave danger faced by people with albinism in Malawi,” Deprose Muchena of Amnesty International, which confirmed the killing, said in a statement.
According to the international human rights’ organization, two people with albinism have been killed in Malawi so far this year, and five others are missing.
In April, Malawi’s inspector general of police ordered his offers to immediately shoot anyone who appears to be abducting albinos in order to protect them from “dangerous criminals.”
“Shoot every criminal who is violent when caught red-handed abducting people with albinism,” Lexen Kachama said.
“We cannot just watch while our friends with albinism are being killed like animals every day. We do realize that these people are ruthless, have no mercy and therefore they need to be treated just like that.”
RELATED: Superstition Fuels Spike In Murder And Mutilation of Albinos
There has been uptick in attacks against Malawi’s albino population. In some cases, albino people’s own family members have led them into criminal hands in order to collect life-changing sums of money for their bones. According to the International Red Cross, a “complete set” of albino bonescan be sold for up to $75,000 in neighboring Tanzania.
Last year, the subsaharan African nation saw more than 30 criminal cases related to the killing, abduction, and trafficking of albino people’s bones which are believed to have special powers by some in East Africa.
“Just imagine, there are even some daredevils who go to cemeteries to dig graves where people with albinism were buried,” said Nicholas Gondwa, a police spokesperson. “All that is done in the name of hunting for the body parts or bones of albinos.”
has led to increased attacks in neighboring countries such as Malawi and Burundi.
“Those who are in the business of selling body parts of albinos … have established a market in Malawi, because it has become tougher to do business in Tanzania,” Boniface Massah, a Malawian albino rights’ activist, said. “We are hunted like animals.”
BY BEENISH AHMED
MAR 4, 2016 10:48 AM
CREDIT: AP PHOTO/MATT ROURKE
Kabula Nkarango Masanja waits during a prosthetic limb fitting, Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2015, at Shriners Hospital for Children in Philadelphia. Kabula and four children from Tanzania are in the U.S. to receive free surgery and prostheses after they were attacked and dismembered in the belief that their body parts will bring wealth.
Share932
Tweet
Police last week uncovered the severed head of a 9-year-old albino boy who was abducted from his home in eastern Malawi. His brutal killing is suspected to be tied to an increase in albino deaths across East Africa due to beliefs that their bones contain magical properties.
The incident “shows the grave danger faced by people with albinism in Malawi,” Deprose Muchena of Amnesty International, which confirmed the killing, said in a statement.
According to the international human rights’ organization, two people with albinism have been killed in Malawi so far this year, and five others are missing.
In April, Malawi’s inspector general of police ordered his offers to immediately shoot anyone who appears to be abducting albinos in order to protect them from “dangerous criminals.”
“Shoot every criminal who is violent when caught red-handed abducting people with albinism,” Lexen Kachama said.
“We cannot just watch while our friends with albinism are being killed like animals every day. We do realize that these people are ruthless, have no mercy and therefore they need to be treated just like that.”
RELATED: Superstition Fuels Spike In Murder And Mutilation of Albinos
There has been uptick in attacks against Malawi’s albino population. In some cases, albino people’s own family members have led them into criminal hands in order to collect life-changing sums of money for their bones. According to the International Red Cross, a “complete set” of albino bonescan be sold for up to $75,000 in neighboring Tanzania.
Last year, the subsaharan African nation saw more than 30 criminal cases related to the killing, abduction, and trafficking of albino people’s bones which are believed to have special powers by some in East Africa.
“Just imagine, there are even some daredevils who go to cemeteries to dig graves where people with albinism were buried,” said Nicholas Gondwa, a police spokesperson. “All that is done in the name of hunting for the body parts or bones of albinos.”
has led to increased attacks in neighboring countries such as Malawi and Burundi.
“Those who are in the business of selling body parts of albinos … have established a market in Malawi, because it has become tougher to do business in Tanzania,” Boniface Massah, a Malawian albino rights’ activist, said. “We are hunted like animals.”
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This is one of those practices that elicits a firm 
