Zambian govt condemns increased attacks on albinos

The Zambian Government on Thursday expressed concern over the increased attacks on people with albinism following two attacks this week.

On Wednesday, a seven-year-old albino girl had part of her hand chopped off by an unknown person, who raided her parent’s house on the outskirts of Kitwe city on the Copperbelt Province.

The incident happened barely a day after a 39-year-old albino man was stabbed to death in eastern Zambia’s Nyimba district when the assailants attacked him while he was sleeping in his grass-thatched house.

ALSO READ: Kenya to plant 2bn tree seedlings by 2022

Chief Government Spokespersons, Dora Siliya, said the act of attacking people with albinism was inhuman and intolerable which will not go unpunished.

“This level of barbarism is incompatible with our status as a Christian nation which espouses love for one another.

“ It is, therefore, inconceivable that men can attack a defenseless girl in that manner,’’ she said in a release.

She warned perpetrators of the barbaric acts that the law would not spare them.

According to her, the government may consider providing a legal framework to ban harmful practices by some traditional doctors.

She added that some of the traditional doctors, who are believed to encourage attacks on people with albinism, with the notion that their body parts could bring good luck and wealth.