Police have announced that two witch doctors in Tanzania have been arrested after a woman with albinism was hacked to death.
The woman was involved in an attack, which saw her left leg as well as several of her fingers being removed. The attack occurred in the village of Gasuma, in Simiyu province, a remote rural area in the north-west of the country where there have been numerous killings of albinos before.
Albinos have been subject to extensive persecution in Tanzania, where witch doctors believe that magic potions made with albino body parts can bring good fortune. Despite a decline in killings of this nature recent years, this latest attack has called alarm with some human rights groups calling for all witch doctors to be banned.
At a press conference earlier today, one group - Under The Same Sun, which campaigns against the discrimination of people living with albinism, claimed that the current regulation of witch doctors clearly wasn’t working.
All witch doctors currently have to apply for a certificate from the Ministry of Health and Welfare to practice. The last killing of an albino in Tanzania was believed to be in February last year.
The government has also been trying to address the problem of albino discrimination in recent years, and an albino MP was appointed in parliament several years ago.