WITCH HUNTS IN AFRICA 1999

May 2, 1999: AA NEWS - Women throughout Africa being charged with "witchcraft" are being hunted down and put to death, according to media accounts and reports from human rights organizations.  In Bihar, more than 400 alleged witches have been strangled, stoned to death or dispatched with knives in the past six years.

"In every 10th or 15th house in every village, you'll find a woman who's been branded a witch," says Ajay Kumar, an attorney with the Free Legal Aid Committee funded by Action Aid and the Oxfam group.  "No one talks to them, children are told to stay away, and they're banned from village ceremonies and festivals."  Other reports show that victims who survive attacks were severely beaten, compelled to swallow excrement, and forced to endure other indignities.

Few of these human rights violations ever reach the ears of authorities, let alone end up in the impoverished court systems.  But in South Africa, police forces have recently introduced a special "witch protection program" to assist women fleeing the hysteria.  The accused are often burned to death and dismembered for genitals, hands, the head and other limbs which then become objects bringing "good luck" to the perpetrator of the crime.  Witch doctors -- Inkagna -- frequently offer to "sniff out" a witch in exchange for money or material goods.