Police in Tanzania said on Wednesday they have
arrested four people over the kidnapping of an albino girl in the north of the
country, where many are killed and their body parts sold as lucky charms.
Pendo Emmanuelle Nundi, 4, was snatched on Saturday from her
home in the Mwanza region by attackers armed with machetes, regional police
chief Valentino Mlowola told state television.
"We have arrested four people, including the girl's
father. We are still in the process of interrogating them so we can find out
where the girl is - if she is still alive," the official said, adding the
attackers may have been tipped off by neighbours.
At least 74 albinos have been murdered in the east African
country since 2000, according to United Nations experts. After a spike in
killings in 2009, the government placed youngsters in children's homes in a
desperate effort to defend them.
A hereditary genetic condition which causes a total absence
of pigmentation in the skin, hair and eyes, albinism affects one Tanzanian in 1
400, often as a result of inbreeding, experts say. In the West, it affects just
one person in 20 000.
In August a UN rights expert warned that attacks against
albinos were on the rise because Tanzania's October 2015 presidential election
was on the horizon, encouraging political campaigners to turn to influential
sorcerers for support.
Albino body parts sell for around $600 in Tanzania, with an
entire corpse fetching $75 000.
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