- Gabon election raises fears of ritual killings
(...) Every week, mutilated bodies are discovered in the capital
Libreville, despite police patrols, and streets quickly empty after
nightfall. Anxious parents are keeping a close watch around schools
to prevent children from being snatched.
The head of an association against ritual crimes, Frederic Ntera
Etoua, said 290 killings had occurred since 1986 in the thick
jungles of the Ogooue-Ivindo province in the northeast, where Ralph
Edang N'na was killed.
Philippe Ndong, a psychology teacher at Libreville university,
traces the rise in ritual crimes to 2001.
"As legislative elections approached, mutilated bodies were
discovered around the country," said Ndong. "An 8-year-old girl was
snatched in Ndolou department and killed in Mouila. The man
allegedly responsible was a candidate to parliament who entered the
government after this crime."
Ndong cites other ritual murders. In 2002, a man in his 20s, Lucien
Bigoundou, was killed in the Digoudou forest of central Gabon while
on a hunting trip with companions who cut off his genitals and other
parts of his body.
In March 2005, the bodies of two 12-year-old boys were washed up on
a Libreville beach -- one was Ebang Ondo's son. A month later,
six-year-old Warlys Igor Mboumba was found dead in a Libreville
gutter, his body drained of blood.
In January 2006, the bodies of three children under four were
discovered in the trunk of a car in a private yard.
And last April, two men suspected of sodomising a 3-year-old boy and
draining his blood in a ritual killing were lynched.
April 16, 2008
Children mutilated and drained of blood in ritual killings 'by
African politicians hoping for election luck'
Politicians in the central African nation of Gabon have been accused
of ritually killing children in the belief that it will increase
their chances of election. When the body of 13-year-old Ralph Edang
N'na was found drained of blood and with gaping wounds last month,
many in Gabon thought it was politicians who had ordered his killing.
The murder of children and young adults, whose organs are eaten or
used to make magical amulets, has increased in recent years in the
oil-rich central African nation.
April 16, 2008
- Gabonese Eat Children’s Organs for Good Luck
As elections are getting closer, more and more children disappear
and sometimes are found massacred, said a fighter against the ritual.
When in Gabon a 13-year-old child was found without organs, genitals
and with his blood drained, the public started to be worried that
these are politically ordered sacrifises which the presidential
candidates use to have luck at the elections.
This oil rich African country, where 1.6 million people live, has
recorded many similar murders in the past, and now they started to
appear again. In fact, a person who eats the organs of a young boy
will see his/her dreams come true, and the person who wears them
around his/her neck will be protected by calamities and evil spirits
which could afflict luck.
(...)
As the elections are getting closer, more and more young children
disappear and it happens that they are found massacred, therefore we
believe that the politicians are the ones who order the murders –
said a member of an organisation against the killing ritual, pastor
Francois Bibang, and added that the police does nothing to stop this.
(...)
Even the UN reacted to these accidents, but they have no power to
persecute or investigate the leading members of the society,
therefore murders of this kind are not reduced, despite their
presence.
(...) a member of parliament, Guy Nzouba Ndama, is convinced that
the murders are actually a work of organ dealers (...) "This is a
very organised crime, and it is very well screened by ritual murders,
especially now during the elections. The whole public is watching
the politicians, and human organs dealers kill young children and no
one even has any suspect", said Ndama.
Data show that since 1986, 290 children under 14 years of age have
been murdered in this brutal way.
April 16, 2008
- Ritual murder seen as way to local power in Gabon
Pre-election ritual killings in Gabon are on the rise, carried out
by secret networks, scavenging for blood or body parts in pursuit of
boundless health, wealth, success and power. "Unfortunately, this
practice seems to be spreading again in Gabon," said Jean-Elvis
Ebang Ondo, founder of the ALCR, the Association to Fight Ritual
Crimes, since his 12-year-old son was kidnapped, killed and
mutilated in 2005.
The ALCR and the Gabonese media claim such killings become more
common in the weeks ahead of local elections, because candidates
encourage sacrifices on their behalf. Ebang Ondo says there have
been 12 ritual murders since February.
Mar 27, 2008
- When the body of 13-year-old Ralph Edang N'na was found drained
of blood and with gaping wounds in his genitals, chest and neck last
month, many in Gabon thought it was politicians who had ordered his
killing.
April 16, 2008
- Kofi Akosah-Sarpong discusses a Gabonese teacher’s campaign
against human sacrifice and its wide-spread implications Africa’s
progress
June 6, 2007
- Libreville - A three-year-old in Gabon was killed after having
been kidnapped, raped and burnt with an iron as part of what may
have been a ritualistic ceremony, family members and others said on
Wednesday.
The head of the Gabonese Association for the Fight Against Ritual
Crimes said the murder carried the marks of a ritual, a recurring
practice in the country. The rituals often involve kidnapping young
people and mutilating
April 4, 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.
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
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