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In
Congo, Thousands Of Accused "Sorcerers" Suffer Abuse
UN
Wire, October 30, 2003
In
the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where superstitions and poverty are
abundant, thousands of unwanted children and elderly people are abused and
abandoned for being suspected sorcerers, Knight Ridder News Service
reported yesterday.
Most of the victims are children and elderly because these groups are easy
scapegoats for poor harvests, lost jobs and other problems. The disruption
of traditional family life due to the country's civil war
and the growth of revivalist churches, where preachers rally emotions
against Satan and witches, have aggravated the abuses.
UNICEF estimates that more than 60 percent of the children in its shelters
in the capital,
Kinshasa
, are accused sorcerers.
"Nearly everywhere in the country you'll find children accused of
witchcraft," said Trish Hiddleston, a child protection worker for
UNICEF. "It's growing more and faster in some areas, especially
urban ones."
The accused face abuse at the hands of their family or of revivalist
preachers who force gasoline or acid down their throats in order to purge
the demons believed to be inside. Suspected sorcerers may also
be exploited, raped or murdered.
The top child protection police officer in the eastern town of
Bukavu
, Jean Muvishemba, said four people had
been arrested this year for abusing children accused of witchcraft and 30
accused child witches had been placed in shelters. Earlier this
month, the country's transitional government pledged to combat the problem
(Sudarsan Raghavan, Knight Ridder, Oct. 24).
Neighboring Republic of the
Congo
faces the same problem. Gatsono
Yoka Iccoulah, governor of the north-central district of Cuvette, says
that many Congolese do not believe in natural death, so they may brand
friends or relatives of the dead as sorcerers - abandoning the
accused and sometimes killing them. According to Iccoulah, 87
murders involving accusations of sorcery have been documented in the last
four years in Cuvette.
"For several years now, we have been denouncing these acts of another
age that constitute grave violations of human rights," said Alain
Oyandzi, head of the Congolese Human Rights Observatory's Ouesso office.
"However, the authorities have not been able to find the means for
preventing youths, for the most part, of freely taking the lives of others."
Government officials say they are working to end the killings and other
abuses, although judicial proceedings to disprove allegations of sorcery
are exceedingly difficult.
"The fetishists often refuse to come forward to provide evidence and
identify an alleged sorcerer," explained Michel Miambi, president of
the Oeusso court and member of the Superior Council of Magistrates.
"There is also the problem of a lack of true independence of the
judiciary: faced with a case involving alleged sorcery, it is not
unusual that a high-level civilian or military authority will testify on
behalf of an assassin."
"So many people are superstitious in this country that sometimes the
order for such heinous murderers even comes from well-placed individuals
in Brazzaville [the national capital]," he added.
According to Pierre Tchimanga Mameta, a Congolese sociology professor,
little progress can be made until there is greater accountability.
"As long as these crimes go unpunished, the belief in sorcery will
prevail. These murderers can no longer be allowed to operate with
complete impunity," he said (Integrated
Regional Information Networks, Oct. 29).
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