No More Albino Extermination!

Burundi has arrested eight people found with human bones suspected of belonging to albinos, a government official said on Sunday. The tiny east African nation & neighbouring Tanzania have been convulsed by a spate of ritual albino murders fuelled by a body parts trade. Witchdoctors tell clients that albino parts will bring them luck in love, life & business. "Before arresting them, we did a search & found human bones in their houses," said Nicodeme Gahimbare, a public prosecutor in the eastern Ruyigi province. "The eight were denounced by two other detained people who have already confessed to killing two albinos," Gahimbare said. Albinism is a condition that causes a lack of pigment in the eyes, skin or hair, which makes patients especially vulnerable to skin cancer & burns, & makes life particularly difficult in sun-drenched Africa. Since last year, 11 albinos have been killed in Burundi. Forty others have been murdered in Tanzania since mid-2007. Kazungu Kassim, the head of a Burundi albino association, said: "Authorities have now realised that the killing of albinos is a serious matter which needs concrete action. We urge the government to double efforts in protecting albinos, because what we are witnessing here is a planned extermination of the albino community." There are about 200 albinos in the nation of 8 million people.