Witchcraft killer decapitates five-year-old albino boy and hacks off his legs in Congo
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Witch killer beheads 5-year-old albino boy and cuts off his legs in Congo
- Some believe that people with albinism have magical powers in sub-Saharan Africa
- Their body parts often sell for thousands on the black market.
A five-year-old albino boy has been beheaded and had his legs lopped off by a witchcraft killer in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Occult believers in sub-Saharan Africa believe that the body parts of people with albinism have magical powers and are regularly sold on the black market.
The boy’s body was found in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo province of South Kivu, in the Kalehe area of South Kivu, a province that borders Rwanda and Burundi.
Only the boy’s arms and torso remained when he was discovered Wednesday, and police are searching for the killer.
Archimedes Karhebwa, assistant administrator of the Kalehe territory, said: “We condemn and deplore this new case of murder of a 5-year-old albino boy, who was kidnapped by armed bandits for ulterior motives.”
The boy’s body was found in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo province of South Kivu, in the Kalehe area of South Kivu, a province that borders Rwanda and Burundi.
Juvenal Lushule, who works for an albino association in South Kivu, said 18 albinos had been killed in similar circumstances in the province since 2009.
He said: “This recent case disgusts us and does not surprise us, because we have always been victims of these atrocities.”
Ten albino graves had also been robbed during that period, according to Lushule, and there were 22 kidnapping attempts.
As in several other African countries, albinos in the Democratic Republic of the Congo are sometimes targeted due to the belief that their body parts can be used in magical rituals to bring fame and fortune.
Albinos in the Democratic Republic of the Congo are sometimes targeted due to the belief that their body parts can be used in magical rituals (file image of a boy with albinism in Kenya)
Due to superstition, their body parts can sell for thousands of dollars and are often the subject of ritual killings.
Some believe that having sex with an albino woman can also cure AIDS.
Albinism, caused by a lack of melanin, the pigment that colors skin, hair and eyes, is a genetic condition that affects hundreds of thousands of people around the world, especially in Africa.