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Over 100 Tanzanians Killed for Practicing Witchcraft
More than 100 people were killed by angry villagers in Tanzania's northwestern Shinyanga region within one year beginning from April, 2000 after allegedly practicing witchcraft, a regional police officer said on Saturday.
Wolfgang Gumbu, regional police commander, said 100 old women and nine men were on the list of victims in 28 incidents recorded in the year.
The rate of witchcraft-induced killings increased tremendously after April 1 this year, when most of the suspected killers were freed by the courts due to lack of evidence to convict them, the police officer said.
He attributed the incidents to high level of ignorance among local residents which led them to resorting to witch doctors, most of whom were actually money mongers.
The murders of elderly people accused of witchcraft in Tanzania are threatening the country's social stability.
The widespread belief in witchcraft has led, in some instances, to the killing of alleged witches by their victims, aggrieved relatives, or mobs.
Many of the murdered people, mainly elderly men and women, were attacked by angry villagers after allegedly practicing witchcraft.
Some old women were also accused of being witches and murdered, according to a police report.
Over the past 10 years, about 20,000 people have been lynched to death by witch-hunting mobs. Most of the killings took place in Shinyanga region, where at least nine old people are slain every month.
Government officials condemn these practices and some arrests occur. However, most perpetrators of witch-killing or mob justice elude arrest.
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