Malawi mobs kill 12 ‘vampires’ as fears grow of magical cult

At least a dozen people accused of being vampires have been killed in mob attacks in Malawi, prompting the president to address the nation to try to dispel rumours of a blood-sucking cult.

The UN has called on the government of the impoverished southern African state to prosecute vigilantes whose targets have included health workers and foreigners suspected of involvement in the cult. The US embassy has declared affected central and northern districts as no-go areas while petrified armed villagers mount ad hoc roadblocks and search vehicles.

According to local media reports communities are sleeping in groups outside their homes for safety, convinced that vampires will use magic and modern technology to steal their blood and disappear into the night. “We fear we can have our blood sucked if we sleep alone in our houses. We are even failing to go to our gardens for fear of being attacked by vampires there,” Agnes Zimba told Voice of America.

Suspected vampires have been stoned, beaten and burned to death and police have made 120 arrests in a crackdown on gangs.

President Mutharika described the cult rumours as “baseless and deliberately created” to generate “fear and panic” before a re-run of the election which gave him a second term in office, following allegations of vote rigging.

Belief in witchcraft is widespread in Malawi’s rural areas, where 80 per cent of its population of 18 million live. Tales about anamapopa, as the vampires are known, triggered a similar spate of mob attacks in 2017 which led to nine deaths and 250 arrests.

According to social scientists, such superstitions in Malawi often coincide with episodes of great hardship. The country was hit by Cyclone Idai last March, along with Mozambique and Zimbabwe, which devastated crops and displaced thousands of people. A prolonged drought has also left a large proportion of its population hungry.

Source: The Times

Photo Credit: Reuters