US Embassy fear Malawi ‘bloodsuckers’, withdraws volunteer workers
American Peace Corps volunteers working in four southern region districts have been temporarily withdrawn by the United States (US) Embassy in Lilongwe over reports about the presence of human bloodsuckers in Phalombe and Mulanje districts.
More than 2 400 Peace Corps volunteers have served in Malawi since the programme was established in 1963.
The US volunteers serve in Malawi working in the areas of education, environment and health.
But in a security alert dated September 29 2017, the US embassy says it continue t to temporarily prohibit its staff from travelling to Mulanje due to ongoing acts of vigilante justice stemming from fevered rumours on vampires for rituals.
“The US Embassy has instructed its personnel to exercise extreme caution when travelling to Thyolo, Chiradzulu and Phalombe districts due to reports of high tensions and threats of vigilante justice in those districts stemming from the same rumours,” reads the message on US Embassy website.
It adds: “We strongly encourage US citizens to avoid travelling to Mulanje District and exercise caution if travelling to Thyolo, Chiradzulu and Phalombe districts,
“The United States Peace Corps has temporarily removed its volunteers from all these districts.”
For the past three weeks, there have been reports of ‘bloodsuckers’ in the four districts, a development that is forcing some people to sleep outside their houses at night.
The myth about bloodsuckers in the district comes barely a week after three people were burned alive in Mulanje at Milonde in T/A Mabuka on suspicion that they were bloodsuckers.
The Malawi Police Service (MPS) national spokesperson James Kadadzera in an earlier statement described the bloodsucking rumours as a hoax.
He said: “The Malawi Police Service condemns in strongest terms possible the uncivilised behaviour by some unpatriotic Malawians who are fabricating these malicious rumours which are negatively affecting innocent individuals who are either wounded or have their houses demolished.”
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We need to start asking ourselves: why is life becoming increasing cheap in Malawi? Perhaps part of the answer lies in the fact that everything else seems to be becoming increasingly expensive. Many people feel that they can’t even afford hope.
Vampires? Seems someone is deliberately fabricating stories to scare people away from the area?
Malawi is a country where you wonder how Government operates especially in dealing with internal security and political propaganda. The startling rumour of bloodsuckers has been there for some time now and no one seems to care and Government is not coming out to assure its people on what is being done about it. Unfortunately, rumours if not arrested on time turns out to be true especially when a large mass of a community hear no contract facts to it. This happens even if no one has the evidence or any substantial facts. In such cases, information need to be… Read more »
This is very embarrassing for a country popularly known as the warm heart of Africa. Maybe it is a deliberate move to stop people from going there to campaign-DPP’s so called strong hold. Koma dziko ili lilipamavuto owopsya kwambili. Kulamuliridwa ndimbuli (educated savages) chifukwa chochulukana mbuli zovota.
why do you have to politicize everything? What’s DPP got to do with this? Mukufuna mukadzaluza 2019 muzidzanamizila kuti DPP inatumiza opopa magazi ku madera omwe kuli anthu ambiri nthawi ya kampeni? Nkhani yopopa magaziyi inayamba kale ada even nthawi ya kamuzu komanso muluzi. wangobadwa kumene eti, ndikamwana panchombo sipanakhwime, mwina thewera likutsina?