Kimaya's society, probably Africa's oldest albino association, set up in 1980, feels powerless in the face of the attacks. 'The people who are killing us are witch doctors or agents for them. What is happening is mad and horrible,' Kimaya said.
Kimaya said the superstition of money-making had always existed but used to be confined to remote areas. Tanzania's recent minerals boom, which has attracted thousands of people to try their luck in small-scale mining, may have contributed to the spread of the belief. Murders are now also reported in neighbouring countries and Kikwete has asked other heads of state in the Southern African Development Community to act to stamp out the killings.
Last week the Daily News reported the arrest of a 35-year-old fisherman at Lake Tanganyika who had allegedly attempted to sell his 24-year-old albino wife to two businessmen from the Democratic Republic of Congo for 3.6m shillings (about £2,000). Another report told of a man caught at the border carrying a bag containing a baby's head. He told police that a Tanzanian witch doctor had offered to pay him according to the weight of the head.
More than 170 people, most of them witch doctors, have been arrested in Tanzania this year; 53 are in custody, but Kimaya wants firmer, swifter action. 'We need money to pay a lawyer. The government has ordered the police to carry out a census of albinos, so that we know how many of us there are,' he said.
'They have also been instructed to work with villagers to protect us and to escort albino children to school. It is a big step forward, but we urgently need prosecutions to begin so that Tanzanians hear of this injustice,' added Kimaya, who is one of three albino siblings out of seven children in his family. He is married to a black woman and their four children are black.
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