Child Sacrifices in Uganda

[amphibol]

Human sacrifice is on the increase in Uganda according to a government spokesman. This barbaric crime is directly linked to rising levels of development and prosperity, and an increasing belief that witchcraft can help people get rich quickly. Witch doctors claim they have clients who regularly capture children and bring their blood and body parts to be consumed by spirits. One witch doctor confessed for the first time to having murdered about 70 people, including his own son.

According to media reports, the witch doctors revealed that some of their clients capture other people's children and bring the heart and the blood directly to them to take to the spirits. They are brought in small tins and are placed under a tree from which the voices of the spirits are coming. Clients come on average three times a week, with all that the spirits asks them to bring. The witch-doctors deny any direct involvement in murder or incitement to murder. They claim that spirits speak directly to their clients.

Witch doctors are paid about 500,000 Ugandan shillings, equivalent of about $260 for a consultation. The head of the Anti-Human Sacrifice and Trafficking Task Force in Uganda, assistant commissioner Moses Binoga of the Ugandan police, said that witch doctors operate in a network and have bosses who give instructions and receive the bulk of payment made by clients. The bosses involve in one of five or six witch-doctor protection rackets operating in the country.

The Assistant commissioner went on to say that the senior ones extort money from lower people because they deal in illegal things. He said that police had opened 26 murder cases in 2009, in which the victim appeared to have been ritually sacrificed, compared with just three cases in 2007. He also said that they have about 120 children and adults reported missing whose fate they have been unable to trace. They cannot rule out that they may be victims of human sacrifice, he said. Child protection campaigners in the country believe the real number is much higher, as some disappearances are not reported to the police.

http://www.newstimeafrica.com/archives/10128

[nemesis]

It is very difficult to assess the accuracy of the numbers of victims in news reports such as the one in the OP IME.

While there is undoubtedly a market for human body parts in some African belief systems (e.g. Muti) there is also a huge problem of innocent people being tortured and killed as a result of being accused of being witches, wizards and sorcerers by dangerous groups of hysterical people, usually lead by pastors and church leaders.

There is a long and inglorious history of collective panics about Satanists, witches, even Jews who were believed to sacrifice children and drink their blood. One example of the myth of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, another is the Satanic Panic that kicked off in the US, the UK and New Zealand where many children were traumatised having been forcibly removed from their families by deluded social workers.

My understanding re Muti is that, even though evil people exist in reality who do murder and mutilate people (the victims are usually children and albinos), such people are regarded with the same level of hatred and fear that say paedophile child abusers are regarded here.  This last point is important as it is definitely not a situation where whole villages or countries  engage in such terrible practices, as one might believe if you read some of the more sensationalist news reports.

[Daggi]

Hello nemesis ! welcome here. What do you mean by "OP IME" ?

[nemesis]

OP = Original post

IME = In my opinion

Sorry, these abbreviations are very common in English language speaking sites and I should bot have assumed that people here would understand them :)

Just a few news links relevant to my earlier post, there are all recent news stories from various parts of the world

All in all there are probably many more innocent people being killed because of fear of "witchcraft" than are killed or mutilated for Muti

http://www.nationmw.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5756:witchcraft-is-a-tricky-issuebt-residents&catid=8:world-news

http://www.timeslive.co.za/local/article640416.ece/Witchcraft-motive-behind-ECape-murders

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata-/Couple-thrashed-for-witchcraft/articleshow/6538563.cms

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/regions/09/11/10/nephew-kills-old-couple-alleged-witchcraft

[oriol3s]

this is not good, i think it is also happening in other countries... this kind of insanity must be stopped

[oriol3s]

Miss Uganda UK 2018 Embarkes on a Stop Child Sacrifice Campaign
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=daaF1EufHFc