Tanzanian police said Wednesday (January 7th) they have arrested 15 people in connection with the kidnapping of a 4-year-old albino girl in the country's north, AFP reported.
Pendo Emmanuelle Nundi was taken from her home in the Mwanza region by armed men on December 27th.
Her father and two uncles were among the 15 suspects arrested in connection with her disappearance, said Vicky Ntetema of Under the Same Sun, an organisation that campaigns for rights for people with albinism.
Police have given area residents five days to find Nundi.
In some parts of Tanzania, albinos are killed and dismembered and their body parts used in witchcraft rituals.
At least 74 albinos have been murdered in Tanzania since 2000, according to the United Nations. After a spike in killings in 2009, the government placed youngsters in children's homes to help ensure their safety.
Mwanza Regional Commissioner Magesa Mulongo travelled to Ndami village in Kwimba District, Nundi's home area, to appeal for information on her whereabouts, Tanzania's The Guardian reported.
"The whole world now considers the villagers as having no heart," Mulongo said.
"No person can have guts to do such inhumane act in the village without the collaboration of the residents of the area," he said. "It is common knowledge that there must have been a person or persons that took part in the mission."
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