Tanzania's albinos hacked apart by witchdoctors who believe their body parts 'bring luck' in sick trade 'fuelled by the country's elite'
Albinos are seen as curses, or 'ghosts' who can be wiped off the face of the earth, in many part of Tanzania, and across Africa. Albinism is a hereditary genetic condition which causes a total absence of pigmentation in the skin, hair and eyes, albinism affects one Tanzanian in 1,400, often as a result of inbreeding in remote and rural communities, experts say. In the West, it affects just one person in 20,000. Families are often told to kill the children at birth. Yet, conversely, their body parts are highly prized. But Josephat Torner sees the two as being intrinsically linked. 'The killings and attacks is the outcome of the stigma and discrimination. If you respect me, you won't think of me as a commodity,' he said. Witch doctors claim albino body parts are capable of bringing riches, power and success, if used in potions, while a UN report report into the trade revealed miners used the bone as amulets, or would bury them where they ...