12 January 2008
Bujumbura — Four people were arrested in connection with the murder of six persons in Maramvya in Rutana commune. All those arrested are the neighbours of the victims.
The family was killed by two grenade blasts in the night of 9 January 2008. The suspects were arrested after a fruitless cordon -search operation in Maramvya.
The victims were former refugees and a land dispute is said to be at the root of this murder. The neighbours of the victims had accused him of sorcery but the grassroots local officials failed to give much attention to this allegation.
Threats to kill people accused of witchcraft are becoming widespread spread in various provinces. In Buyengero commune, unidentified people made public a list of persons suspected to be witches. Similar lists were also issued in Busiga commune of Ngozi province.
A campaign to hunt witches goes back the time preceding the murder of the first democratically elected president in Burundi, Melchior Ndadaye. Many people suspected to be witches were hunted down in different communes straining an already tense social fabric
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