Malawi gives personal 'emergency alarms' to albino citizens

File picture: Ben Curtis/AP

File picture: Ben Curtis/AP

Published May 3, 2019

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Blantyre - The Malawian government is handing out some 1,600

personal security alarms to its albino citizens, in an attempt to

stop deadly attacks on the community.

"The gadgets will be distributed to persons with albinism in all the

regions in Malawi," Cecilia Chazama, minister for Gender, Children

and Disability, said Friday.

Albinos are targeted in Malawi and some other African countries

because of the superstitious belief that their body parts are magic

and can make people rich.

Francis Masambuka, an albino activist, welcomed the project but

stressed it wasn't a cure-all solution to attacks on people with the

condition - which causes lack of skin pigmentation.

"The gadgets are connected to the network of nearest police

stations...and once a person with albinism is under threat, they can

press it and the police can rush to the scene," he said.

Some 24 people with albinism have been killed and 160 attacks

reported to police since 2014, according to figures from the

Association of Persons with Albinism in Malawi.

The emergency buttons - which will be distributed Saturday - are

being introduced amid continued attacks. Since December, one man has

been reported killed and two children abducted.

Despite the Malawian government's promise to tackle the problem,

rights groups have complained that few suspected of crimes against

albinos are successfully prosecuted.

However, on Friday a Malawi court sentenced a man found guilty of

murdering an albino to death. The death penalty has not been carried

out in Malawi for years, usually meaning life imprisonment instead.

Willard Mikaele, a 28-year-old barber from Thyol district, was found

guilty of strangling to death 19-year-old Mphatso Pensulo. He said he

had been advised by a witchdoctor to kill a person with albinism if

he wanted to get rich.

"The motive behind the killing was as devilish as it is primitive. I

want to agree with the state that death sentence is appropriate as it

reflects a sense of justice in the circumstances," said Justice

Maclean Kamwambe.

dpa

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