Africa: Multiplication of Ritual Murders

These acts are supposedly ordered by high-ranking persons in the State wishing to acquire more power through black magic. In Nigeria, pieces of human bodies were found in a bag on February 17, 2013, near Lagos, in the south of Nigeria. The leader of a local sect seems to have been involved in the affair. This incident is not an isolated case in black Africa.

In an interview in July 2011, on Radio France Internationale (RFI), Jean Elvis Ebang Ondo, president of the Association against Ritual Crimes (AlCR) evoked the fresh outbreak of ritual crimes in Gabon. “A national elite, without faith or law, makes use of these practices openly,” he denounced. Ritual crime has “become a sort of custom integrated into Gabonese traditions,” he continued, explaining: “Many Gabonese think they have to do black magic or belong to a lodge in order to succeed (...). The ritual crimes are practiced by secret networks, to take from the victims blood and certain body parts (...) that are supposed to bring youth, health, wealth, success or power.” The Gabonese activist also revealed that during election periods, “there is an unspeakable carnage.

At every political movement, election or ministerial reorganization, people sacrifice close relatives.” Those who order these acts are never brought to court. “Assassins are arrested, then released a few months later. There exists an impunity, a true solidarity...” At the end of January 2013, the Swiss information agency Infosud related a series of murders in Cameron; the mutilated bodies of several young women were discovered in Yaoundé, the capitol, over a period of two months. According to the agency, “those who ordered these crimes, at the request of their holy men, were close to the ruling power.” While the number of victims is debated – seven according to the government, ten according to the local press – all agree that these are ritual crimes and “diabolical magic practices.”

According to Dr. Mballa, a Cameronese sociologist, quoted by the newspaper Le Temps on January 30, 2013 is a crucial electoral year for our country, with the legislative, the municipal and the senatorial elections. As with every upcoming ministerial reorganization, a few rich candidates aspiring to high responsibilities can order such crimes.” And the sociologist added that “certain members of the human body are considered as sanctuaries of the soul, while other body parts are valued as the source of a vital force.”

In 2012, Titus Edzoa, former secretary general of the President of the Republic, at present imprisoned for corruption, published a book in which he recognized the existence of these practices. “Drinking fresh human blood is especially exciting for the caprices of the demons,” he affirmed. Before this work, another testimony entitled Au Cameroun de Paul Biya (In Paul Biya’s Cameron) (president of Cameron since 1982, ed.), written by Fanny Pigeaud, former onsite correspondent for the AFP and the French newspaper Libération, had already evoked the rituals of sorcery practiced in the highest ranks of the State.