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Tanzania: Mob justice killings swell in Tanzania

The Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda has said that despite government efforts to strengthen national security, brutal killings of women increased during the first quarter of this year.

Citing examples, Pinda said between January and last month, eight women were murdered in Mugango, Etaro, Nyakatende and Nyegina wards in Butiama District, Mara Region. At least 19 people died in such killings in Mara region.

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Zimbabwe: ‘Ritual’ murder trial continues

A case of three men who allegedly killed four people for suspected ritual purposes in Gwanda is set to continue…

Mncedisi Ndlovu (18), Nhlanhla Sibanda (23) and Bhekimpilo Mthethwa (41) are facing four counts of murder. They allegedly killed four people and cut off their breasts and private parts for suspected ritual purposes in Stanmore.

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Tanzania: Tanzanian ‘witch doctors’ charged in albino murder of Munghu Lugata

Tanzanian police have arrested two alleged witch doctors after an albino woman was hacked to death for body parts, a rights group says.

Munghu Lugata, 40, was killed after attackers hacked off her left leg above the knee and chopped off three fingers on Monday, Under The Same Sun, a group that campaigns for the rights of albinos, said on Wednesday.

Charles Mkumbo, police chief of the Simiyu region in northwestern Tanzania, said a man and a woman, Gudawa Yalema and Shiwa Masalu, had been arrested.

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Nigeria: Two JSS Students Escape Ritual Killing In Benue

Dooyum Moar, a 13-year-old junior secondary student of Government Secondary School Gboko, Benue State, on Tuesday miraculously escaped being beheaded by a ritualist.

Ephraim Maor, the father to one of the girls, said the JSS 2 student was kidnapped by a commercial vehicle operator in Makurdi, adding that on Monday morning, he took his son to the Wurukum motor park in Makurdi, where he boarded a vehicle to Gboko to resume school.

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Tanzania: Tanzanian witch doctors arrested over albino killing

Two witch doctors in Tanzania have been arrested after a woman with albinism was hacked to death, police say.

One of her legs and several fingers were removed in the attack on Tuesday.

Albinos have suffered widespread persecution in Tanzania, where witch doctors say magic potions made with albino body parts can bring good luck.

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DRC: How I was accused of witchcraft

Hello, my name is Noellia*, I am 12 years old and I currently live in the ORPER** centre in Kinshasa.

A few days ago, I completed the training on the Rights of the Child and I understood that my right to protection had been violated according to Article 19 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. I want to tell you my story because I believe that some children are in very dangerous situations and risk dying if we do not take action.

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Nigeria: Prophetess sets 9 year old daughter ablaze for witchcraft deliverance

A 37-year-old woman, Bose Oluwole, was on Wednesday remanded in prison custody by an Igbosere Magistrates’ Court in Lagos for allegedly setting her nine- year-old daughter ablaze.

The accused, who attends a ‘white garment’ church, had just returned home from a night vigil on the morning of the assault. In her statement to the police, claimed she received a revelation during the vigil that her daughter was possessed by demonic spirits.

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Kenya: Witchdoctors in Kilifi to be vetted, given licences, says Mwambire

Witchdoctors in Kilifi county will be licensed, deputy speaker Teddy Mwambire has said. He said witchdoctors will be vetted and only genuine ones will be given a licence.

Speaking in Malindi on Monday, Mwambire said the licensing will end the killings of many elderly people who are mistaken to be practising witchcraft.

He said  “We are drafting a Witchcraft Bill. We have come up with measures that will curb the killing of innocent witchdoctors or elderly people.”

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Malawi: Mental Illness is not Witchcraft

Doctors have dismissed beliefs that mental illness is associated with witchcraft as many believe in the country…

Associate Professor Mack Malewa said drug and substance abuse is the main cause of mental illness in the country. He said however that it is sad that a lot of people in the country still believe that mental conditions are caused by witchcraft.

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Nigeria: Akwa Ibom Govt. React To Story On Child Witches

Dear CKN,
It is unfortunate that the writer is ascribing the action of perhaps one person or a few persons to an entire state and hiding under that cover to launch an attack on the Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Chief Godswill Akpabio.
Or how else do I describe a report on the so-called child witch syndrome dove-tailing into such spurious remarks that the Governor will leave Akwa Ibom State poorer than hour met it. Haba!
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