Albino group worried about stalled Tanzania cases

By George Obulutsa

DAR ES SALAAM (Reuters) - A Canada-based rights group has questioned Tanzania's commitment to stop albino murders after courts in the northwest of the African country suspended cases against suspected killers due to lack of funds.

At least 53 Tanzanian albinos have been murdered since 2007, with most of the killings taking place in the remote northwest regions of Shinyanga and Mwanza, where superstition runs deep.

To date, the authorities have arrested more than 90 people, including four police officers, for involvement in the killings or trade of albino body parts -- which witchdoctors tell their clients will bring them luck in love, life and business.

Four albinos were killed in the past month alone, said the rights group, "Under The Same Sun," adding that the nation's 170,000 albinos were feeling increasingly fearful and abandoned.

"With their government unable or unwilling to protect them from the machetes of the witchdoctors' henchmen, there is no place to hide and little reason to hope," the group said in a statement released late on Thursday.

In June, prosecutors opened at least 15 cases against suspects, five of which were in Shinyanga. But those proceedings have now stalled because of lack of funds.

"The Kahama and Shinyanga High Courts, which have been holding trials for four of the suspected killers of victims with albinism, say they have run out of funds," the statement said.

Peter Ash, founder of Under The Same Sun, expressed reservations about the Tanzanian authorities' willingness to curb the killings and asked the international community to put pressure on the administration.

"Ash seriously questions if there is any political will within this East African government to provide meaningful protection for its citizens with albinism," the statement said.

Neighboring Burundi is also trying albino murder suspects and has already convicted five people, including one who was given a life sentence. At least 11 people have been killed in Burundi since last year.

Authorities there allege that the killings were ordered by individuals in neighbouring Tanzania.

Albinos lack pigment in their eyes, skin or hair, making their life difficult in Africa where there is plenty of sunshine and they are more susceptible to skin cancer and sunburn.

The killings have sullied Tanzania's reputation for relative calm in a volatile region, and drawn condemnation from the United Nations and European Union.

(Editing by Daniel Wallis)