• Benin
  Unless a baby is born head first and face upwards, many communities in northern Benin believe the child is a witch or sorcerer. And tradition demands that the infant must be killed.
  July 18, 2005
   
• Botswana
  MP Causes Uproar Over 'Masire Ordered Killing' Jibe
  Member of Parliament (MP) for Ngwaketse West, Mephato Reatile, caused an uproar in Parliament on Friday when he charged that former President Sir Ketumile Masire was behind the 1994 killing of Binto Moroke in Mochudi. The youth was killed during riots that followed the ritual murder of Segametsi Mogomotsi.
  December 4, 2006
  
  Ritual killers get jail sentences.
  April 5, 2006
  
  Court of Appeal orders govt to pay Sekobye for unlawful arrest
  Sekobye, who was arrested and detained on a charge of murder of the 14-year-old Segametsi Mogomotsi, had lodged an appeal with the Court of Appeal.  Segametsis body was found on November 6, 1994 on an open space in Mochudi. Her body had fatal injuries to the chest and her genitals had been removed. Her injuries thus had the hallmarks of a ritual killing. The police arrested and detained Sekobye as a suspect in the murder on 10 November 1994. Sekobyes arrest was based on the strength of a statement made on November 6 by a 15-year-old girl.
  31 January, 2006
   
• Burkina Faso
  On January 9, February 11 and 24 of 2004 mutilated girls were found.
  French article of February 29, 2004
   
• Congo (Brazzaville)
  Four people accused and lynched by the population of Akele and Mbombo.
  French article of December 12, 2004
   
• Congo (Kinshasa)
  Triangle of Death:
  In 2003 the Mai Mai launched an insurgency against Congo’s new transitional government and its army. Since that time they have murdered local chiefs, government officials, persons who registered to vote in upcoming elections, and people they accuse of sorcery, many of whom were killed in horrific public ceremonies. Some of the victims were cannibalized.
  Human Rights Watch 2006
  Cannibalisme goes unpunished in Katanga.
  July 21, 2006
  The International Criminal Court is being urged to investigate "a campaign of extermination" against pygmies in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
  April 6, 2004
   
• Gabon
  
  Kofi Akosah-Sarpong discusses a Gabonese teacher’s campaign against human sacrifice and its wide-spread implications Africa’s progress
  June 6, 2007
  
  After a series of suspected ritual kiling cases that had occurred early this year, in April another victim was found in the oil-producing central
  African state. Gabon's government (...) appealed to the public not to take justice in their own hands following the lynching of two men suspected of sodomising
  a 3-year-old boy and draining his blood in a ritual murder case.
  Friday, April 13, 2007
  
  At the twentieth century’s end, religion and magic constitute one of the most powerful rhetorics of political culture in Equatorial Africa. Public rumors depict sorcery as the most common way to achieve personal success, wealth, and prestige in times of economic shortage and declining social opportunities.
  Undated
   
• Gambia
  UK / Luton - Ritual killing of a faith healer from the Gambia?
  May 5, 2006
   
• Ghana
  A priest in Ghana's Central Region has confessed to killing eight people including his ex-wife since the beginning of the year, saying they were slain for ritual purposes.
  December 12, 2006
   
• Kenya
  He was only two years old, innocent and bubbling with life. But when they found him on Wednesday after missing since Monday, his body lay lifeless by a riverbank, hacked and carved out in a chilling incident the police say was a ritual killing by Mungiki members. The head and the torso were found a few metres apart - but with vital body parts missing. The head had been skinned, his private parts, chest and part of the hands were missing.
  July 12, 2007

  It was a grisly scene; human body parts next to a blackened pot, raw blood sprinkled on a dusty floor and a skinned carcass of a goat. The items, found inside a house where 12 Mungiki suspects were shot dead in Murang'a on Sunday, offer spine-chilling insights into oathing ceremonies conducted by the killer gang.
  July 4, 2007

  Police in Maragua stumbled on Mungiki suspects with parts of male reproductive organs. Local Officer Commanding Police Division, Mr Stanley Lamai, said the scene was also littered with blood and other paraphernalia associated with the sect. More organs were found in a house nearby during the Tuesday night raid in Githemba village.
  May 7, 2007
  
  More than 300 people have been arrested in Murang'a as the crackdown against Mungiki was intensified at the weekend. The arrests came a day after a matatu driver and conductor were beheaded and their vehicle burnt by a gang linked to the outlawed sect. Meanwhile, security officers for two MPs have also been withdrawn as part of the ongoing investigations. Those affected are Wundanyi MP Mwandawiro Mghanga and Juja MP William Kabogo.
  June 4, 2007
  
  Kenya's government says it has evidence devil worshippers are sacrificing humans, drinking their blood and raping children and urges the public to shun such satanic cults.
  September 24, 1994
   

• Malawi  
  Malawi villager gives in to police over ritual murder
  John Thomas of Njeremba village in Malawi's southern district of Chiradzulu surrendered to police Tuesday in connection with the alleged ritual murder of 11-year old girl in the village. August 24, 2006
  Police intensify search for human parts syndicate.
  April 11, 2006  
  Human parts sellers nabbed.
  April 9, 2006
   

• Mali
  Human bodyparts found and a mutilated baby.
  French article May 27, 2004
  Man accused of kidnapping child for ritual murder.
  French article May 24,  2004
  Several children found mutilated.
  French article March 29, 2004
   
• Mozambique
  Body parts, including sexual organs, are commonly used in may parts of Mozambique in traditional rituals believed to bring good fortune and wealth.
  Last month police in Nampula police detained 14 people after body parts and organs were found in a house, apparently for use in witchcraft.
  May 5, 2004
   
• Namibia
  (...) the gruesome murder of a 79-year-old woman whose head was found floating on the Kavango River (...)
  The elderly woman's head was found at Shadikongoro village near Mukwe, about 180 kilometres east of Rundu, on Sunday after she disappeared on New Year's Eve. It is suspected that she was killed for muti (traditional medicine) purposes.
  January 6, 2005
   
• Nigeria
  
  Commissioner of Police, Mr Joseph Apapa, said there had been a rising incidence of ritual killings in the state. He paraded Owolabi and four other suspects arrested in connection with the murder of Timilehin before newsmen. He said that a similar incident occurred in Sagamu, also in the state. "This thing is now rampant in this state as some people are committed to exploiting quick means of getting rich by killing innocent people in the process," Apapa said.
  July 7, 2007

  The Sokoto State High Court has sentenced a 50 -year old former Police Sergeant , Malam Usman Maigari, who hails from Musawa town in Katsina state to death for killing his wife, Sa'adatu on 11th January, 1999. (...) Justice Abbas said the convict killed his wife for ritual purposes, adding that the dastardly act perpetrated by him was a culpable homicide.
  July 2, 2007

  Ritualists are again on the prowl in and around Awka , the Anambra State capital, with the latest victim being 16 year-old-boy, Master Chika Eziegbuna, student of Comprehensive Secondary School Nawfia who was found dead in a farm land at Umukabia Amawbia , Awka South local government area.
  June 3, 2007

  (...) so when one of the communities discovered a body on a farm with signs of ritual killing, they believed the rival community was responsible. That sparked off the clashes,"
  Februari 23, 2007

  
  Cleric warns against thuggery, political killing
  Barely three months to the 2007 general election, politicians have been charged to shun thuggery and assassinations as such is capable of destroying the country’s nascent democracy.
  Rev. Daddy Hezekaih, founder and leader of the Living Christ Mission gave this charge in Onitsha while chatting with newsmen.
  He called on politicians and aspirants to imbibe the fear of God, and added that politics should not be seen as a do or die affair but as a game where God should be allowed to choose a leader for the nation. “Let us allow God to choose a leader for us, this cannot be gotten through thuggery, ritual killing and assassinations of political opponents,” he said.
  February 2, 2007
  
  Police Arrest 50 in Abule-Oko Over Killing of Suspected Ritualists
  Fifty persons are currently in police net in Abule-Oko, Ifo local government area of Ogun State in connection with the killing, last Sunday, of a Lagos businessman and an herbalist who were accused of killing a two-year-old baby for ritual.
  January 29, 2007
  
  
  Orbed Igwe, the man who exposed the evil that took place in Okija says the ritualists are back:
  "What is actually happening now is that these people (priests) have returned to their old despicable ways. In fact, they are more vehement and brazen in their operations now than ever. They have now formed what they call MASSOB Youths. They parade with sophisticated guns, axe, cutlasses and other dangerous weapons. How they came about the guns I don’t know." He said that they are holding the community by the throat, terrorising and killing people.
  July 18, 2006
  The town of Funtua in Katsina state, was once again, Monday 10th July, 2006 thrown into mourning as dare devil ritualists struck and killed a five year old girl, Aisha Muhammed Saminu. It could be recalled that it was only last month in Funtua that the ritualists killed a 12 year old girl Hafsat Ahmed in a similar circumstances.
  July 15, 2006
  Bauchi Police Nabs Serial Killer:
  One Abami Yohanna, a suspected serial killer who was said to specialise in maiming his victims and cutting off their heads for ritual purposes has been arrested by the police in Luka Zwal village in Tafawa Balewa Local Government area of Bauchi State.
  July 15, 2006
  Two sentenced to death for ritual killing
  June 12, 2006
  Having gone missing for four days, a 12-yr old schoolgirl’s severed, shaven head was found in a swamp. A ritual murder?
  June 10, 2006
  Police nab four suspected ritualists in Benin City
  June 2, 2006
  Recently, there have been several reported cases of individuals who were kidnapped, killed, or had their bodies mutilated by ritualists in Nigeria. The most notorious of them is the one associated with one Chief Vincent Duru, popularly known as Otokoto.
  March 16, 2006
  Mrs Grace Asiyuput, a.k.a. Mama Monday was found naked in a small store behind British America Tobacco Company within the Railway Quarters in Zaria. (...) She had been killed, her eyes gouged out, tongue cut, while her private parts had been mutilated, fuelling suspicions of a ritual killing.
  February 11, 2006
  Lynching of Benin Wizard
  The jungle justice meted out to a suspected wizard in Benin City barely a week ago has once again raised fears that another round of witch-hunting and lynching may be about to happen in the Edo State capital. The incident also raises the larger question of pervading belief in the existence of witchcraft in Nigeria and Edo State in particular.
  January 18, 2006
  The mass resort to myth, superstition and ritual killings in the search for solutions to economic questions of poverty, jobs, security, reveals the growing frustration and desperation among layers of the poor working masses as living conditions become more and more terrible.
  November 12, 2005
  This week the mutilated remains of a black man were found floating in a Dublin canal.  His torso was sliced in half, he was missing his limbs - and most importantly as far as gardai are concerned - his head. Now, acting on information from ritual killing experts in Nigeria, gardai are investigating the possibility that the victim was sacrificed for a money-making ritual.
  April 3, 2005
  Barely one month after the conviction in the United Kingdom of a Nigerian, Kingsley Ojo for the brutal murder of a five year old boy named Adam, police in the Republic of Ireland are questioning two men arrested in Dublin in connection with the murder of the daughter of Malawi’s chief justice.
  August 19, 2004
  Nigerian police say they have found a further 33 bodies in addition to the 50 already uncovered in fetish shrines in south-eastern Anambra state.
  A traditional cult reputed to carry out ritual killings is thought to have carried out the murders.
  August 13, 2004
  Following the reported rise in ritual killings during satanic rituals in various parts of Africa, particularly Nigeria in order to obtain political positions, economic and social power and the collusion of top ranking government officials, Freedom and Justice International, Inc. is calling for multilateral effort to stop the practice.
  March 1, 2004
  Ritual Killings Resurface on the Campus NIGERIA. Tough measures, including dismissal and life sentences, introduced in the 1990s to curb the activities of cults in the higher institutions of learning in NIGERIA seem to be failing.
  Sepbember 19, 2003
  Nigerian Student Cults
  (see ritual killings in Ekpoma) 
  Undated
  A 13-year-old girl has been arrested in northeast Nigeria over the ritual-linked killings of 51 people, including her father, police said on Friday. (...) The girl, detained in Maiduguri, also spoke to the state-run Radio Kaduna and admitted a role in some killings, saying she was a member of a cult led by one 'Emmanuel'.
  July 30, 2001
   

• Sierra Leone
  Freetown - A Sierra Leonean court sentenced a 70-year-old man to death on Wednesday for the ritual murder of a seven-year-old boy whose heart and other organs were removed.
  September 11, 2002

• South Africa
  Muti hijack foiled:
  The continuous spate of ritual murders in Vhembe is a fact. This follows after Mashudu Munzhelele (35) of Tshifudi, Munangwa village, unexpectedly overpowered suspected ritual killers who wanted to murder him for muti purposes at the Mutshundudzi River on Monday.
  August 11, 2006
  The latest victim of ritual murder:
  Ms Thinandavha was buried at her home village of Mulodi during the weekend. Her mutilated body was discovered at Mulodi Mountain last Sunday. Her upper lip, right handpalm, left ear and the front part of her breasts were sliced off. She was naked from the waist down and a rope was tied around her neck.
  August 2006
  Another case of ritual killing:
  Pretoria police are offering a reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the killers of four-year-old Connie Ncube.
  In what appeared to be a muti killing, her mutilated body was found in a river in Nellmapius, east of Pretoria, in February.
  March 28, 2006
  South African police accused of ignoring ritual murders:
  Even in a country grown accustomed to horrific acts of violence, it is a crime that still shocks. ''Muti murder'', in which human body parts are removed to be used in traditional "medicine", is increasing in South Africa - but victims' families complain that the police too often ignore it.
  March 26, 2006
  In South Africa, where the government set up a Commission of Inquiry into Witchcraft Violence and Ritual Murders after a spate of killings of boys aged between one and six in Soweto, it is estimated that at least 300 people have been murdered for their body parts in the past decade. The figure could be as high as 500 a year.
  April 8, 2003
   
• Swaziland 
  King Mswati III has urged Swaziland's politicians not to engage in ritual killings to boost their chances in October's elections.
  June 2, 2003
  Three children, whose mutilated bodies were found buried in isolated areas of Swaziland, are believed to have been killed as part of traditional rituals to bring luck to election candidates.
  August 26, 2002 
   
• Togo
  A Nigerian trader of Igbo origin (....) is reportedly killed in Lome, Togo, by a mob. He was killed in a reprisal against alleged killing of three Togolese children, by a Nigerian, for rituals, a statement from
  Embassy of Nigeria in Togo has said. The man was reported to have been killed at Asiyeye market in Lome, the capital of Togo, during a riot sparked by the killing-for-ritual allegation.
  May 3, 2007
   
• Uganda
  Concern is growing in Uganda over the rise of ritual killing of children, according to media reports. Two weeks ago, five-year old Aggrey Muguluma of Rubaga Division was killed in a suspected ritual by wealth-seeking criminals.
  August 18, 2006
   
• Zambia
  Poliice Arrest Two Journalists
  March 14, 2006
   
• Zimbabwe
  
  A HURUNGWE man last Tuesday reportedly teamed up with three other men and killed his nine-year-old son for ritual purposes at the behest of a businessman who had paid him
  $400 000. Bignose Wireless (27) of Murindika Village under Chief Dandawa in Hurungwe allegedly killed his son with the help of Takaedza Masunda (29), Samuel Mazheke (37) and Everson Major (27) in cold blood after receiving the money as part payment from an unidentified Karoi businessman.
  June 26, 2007

  THE report about a Hurungwe man who allegedly teamed up with three others to murder his nine-year-old son for ritual purposes was shocking. The body of Ronald Wireless was found with the right ear missing five days after his father had reported him missing at Magunje Police Station. A Karoi businessman, who is yet to be named, is said to have made a $400 000 down payment for body parts.
  June 27, 2007

  Zimbabwean law and witchcraft
  Killing someone for ritual purposes is murder, for example, and many have been hanged after being found guilty of murder, rather than of witchcraft. Unfortunately, the advisor of the killer, and the person who processes body parts obtained from murder, has usually escaped punishment. Even suggesting that this person was a witch was a criminal offence.
  March 3, 2006
  
  
  
   

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