BY : DARI KWABENA MATHEW (+233552376423)
Police in Mozambique have launched an investigation into the stealing of body parts of a deceased national with albinism who was buried not long ago.
According to the BBC, the bizarre incident occurred in the Moatize district, in Tete province, which is the western part of the eastern African country.
The robbers reportedly dug through concrete that was used to strengthen the grave before making away with parts of the corpse.
It is reported that the 50-year-old deceased was recently buried in a village that borders Malawi and his relatives used concrete to reinforce the grave to guard against possible theft of the corpse, but that was counterproductive.
The development has sparked reactions, with campaigners for albino rights calling for a swift investigation by the Mozambican police to bring the perpetrators to book.
“The cemetery is isolated. To get there it is a long distance, to go alone you have to think twice, otherwise, maybe a team [was involved],” the BBC quotes Remane Madane, an albino rights activist as saying.
In several African countries including Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania, people with albinism, who lack pigment in their skin and appear pale are hunted like game and killed for ritual purposes.
Some people in those African countries believe that the use of body parts of albinos for witchcraft engenders the potency of their black magic. There is also another weird belief that the possession and use of body parts of persons living with albinism for rituals make businesses boom, for which reason albinos can’t feel free to walk about, especially in isolated areas.
