Photo: IRIN A GROUP advocating for the rights of albinos, Under the Same Sun (UTSS), has condemned the killing of unidentified man with albinism whose body was found mutilated at Namabala village in Arumeru district, Arusha region last month.
According to the UTSS Operations Manager Mr Gamariel Mboya, on May 26, this year, the body of a man aged between 25 and 30 years was discovered in a decomposing state while his face, ears, throat, arms and genitals were all missing.
The body of the deceased has since been preserved at Mount Meru hospital where it remains unidentified and unclaimed. He called on the public to check in their communities if a relative or a person they know of with albinism while calling for the police to conduct a thorough investigation into the matter.
"Following the incident, it is certain that albino killings have not stopped and serious measures need to be taken to end the problem altogether which affects many people's lives," he said. Mr Mboya also urged the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) to make sure that they come up with the total number of people with albinism during this year's census as way of dealing with the problem.
More efforts by the government are needed in addressing the matter, he said, noting that there needs to be clear strategies, plans and allocation of sufficient budget to deal with the problem. Between March and June this year, Mr Mboya added, six incidents of killings and attacks on people with albinism have been reported in which two of them were murdered.
The UTSS Advocacy Officer, Mr Kondo Seif, said that the recent killings on people with albinism in various parts of Africa raises concerns over the possibility of the malpractice have attracted international notoriety. UTSS reports from victim's families and police indicates that there have been 71 murders of people with albinism, 28 attack survivors mostly severely mutilated and 19 grave robberies in the country.
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