Albino toddler kidnapped in Karonga: Malawi police launch search

Malawi Police Service  in Karonga are searching for a one-and-half-year-old  baby with albinism and her kidnappers after the child was abducted around 4am when she was sleeping with her mother, raising fears he may be killed and his body parts used for witchcraft.

Karonga police officer-in-charge Bernard Chitanda identified the kidnapping baby as Eunice Nkhonjera who has been kidnapped from chief Wansambo’s area in Karonga where she hails from.

The report of the missing baby comes at a time when the wave of kidnapping and killing of people with albinism has resurrected following the recent death of a 54-year-old man with albinism in Nkhata Bay.

“The police are on the ground to trace the whereabouts of the baby,” said Chitanda.

Parents of the baby were too shocked to grant an interview with Nyasa Times and the chief of the area was with the police assisting in tracing the whereabouts of the little baby.

But some neighbours said the father to baby Eunice was not in the house when she was kidnapped, saying she was sleeping with her mother.

Albino body parts are sought after in Malawi for witchcraft.

Association of People with Albinism in Malawi president Overton Kondowe asked for more time to get details on the matter before commenting, saying he had just been informed of the issue.

The kidnapping of the baby comes at a time when police have come under intense fire from human rights organisations for doing little to protect people with albinism in the country.

Albinism is a hereditary genetic condition which causes a total absence of pigmentation in the skin, hair and eyes.