The Business of Child Sacrifice and Ritual Murders..

In 2009, The Guardian reported on a horrific increase in child sacrifice in Uganda. The incidents in 2009 were on the rise, with hundreds of children and teenagers missing and those who were found later we found to have been mutilated in what had, at the time, been described as being ritualistic. In short, they were mutilated and sacrificed by Witch Doctors.

Uganda has been shocked by a surge in ritualistic murders and human sacrifice, with police struggling to respond and public hysteria mounting at each gruesome discovery.

In 2008 more than 300 cases of murder and disappearances linked to ritual ceremonies were reported to the police with 18 cases making it to the courts. There were also several high-profile arrests of parents and relatives accused of selling children for human sacrifice.

In January this year the Ugandan government appointed a special police taskforce on human sacrifice and announced that 2,000 officers were to receive specialist training in tackling child trafficking with the support of the US government. Since the taskforce was set up there have been 15 more murders linked to human sacrifice with another 200 disappearances, mainly of children and young adults, under investigation.​

The Guardian then goees on to report that it seems it is the wealthy or those trying to get rich quickly who are now causing the biggest issues in Uganda, especially in the areas around its capital, Kampala. This was something that would in the past have been fairly rare, but the rise appears to coincide with a rise of wealth in the country, where the wealthy are now paying witch doctors to kidnap or buy these children from their desperately poor parents and sacrifice these children to apparently increase their wealth. In short, if the children were not kidnapped, they were sold to witch doctors by parents desperate for money.

Now, one would think that with a taskforce specifically dedicated to tackling this problem, there would have been some improvement.

On 11 October 2011, the BBC reported the following:

The villages and farming communities that surround Uganda's capital, Kampala, are gripped by fear.

Schoolchildren are closely watched by teachers and parents as they make their way home from school. In playgrounds and on the roadside are posters warning of the danger of abduction by witch doctors for the purpose of child sacrifice.

The ritual, which some believe brings wealth and good health, was almost unheard of in the country until about three years ago, but it has re-emerged, seemingly alongside a boom in the country's economy.

The mutilated bodies of children have been discovered at roadsides, the victims of an apparently growing belief in the power of human sacrifice.
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And again, it is the same pattern. The rich elite of Uganda are paying for children to be kidnapped and sacrificed, either murdered or mutilated by having their genitals removed for their Gods and spirits, so that the wealthy can get richer.. And the special taskforce?

According to official police figures, there was one case of child sacrifice in 2006; in 2008 the police say they investigated 25 alleged ritual murders, and in 2009, another 29.

The Anti-Human Sacrifice Police Task Force, launched in response to the growing numbers, says the ritual murder rate has slowed, citing a figure of 38 cases since 2006.

Pastor Sewakiryanga disputes the police numbers, and says there are more victims from his parish than official statistics for the entire country.

The work of the police task force has been strongly criticised by the UK-based charity, Jubilee Campaign.

It says in a report that the true number of cases is in the hundreds, and claims more than 900 cases have yet to be investigated by the police because of corruption and a lack of resources.

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The police, that special taskforce, refuse to comment on accusations of inaction and corruption. One woman interviewed by the BBC recounts how she discovered the body of her decapitated grandson in reeds near her house, a victim of sacrifice by a local witch doctor.

Clutching the only photo she has of her grandson, Tepenensi sobbed as she explained that although the local witch doctor had admitted to sacrificing Stephen, the police were reluctant to pursue the case.

"They offered me money to keep quiet," she says. "I refused the offer."

No-one from the Ugandan government agreed to do an interview. The police deny inaction and corruption.

The head of the Anti-Human Sacrifice Police Task Force, Commissioner Bignoa Moses, says the police are doing all they can to tackle the problem.

"Sometimes, they accuse us of these things because we make no arrests, but we are limited. If we get information that someone is involved in criminal activities like human sacrifice, we shall go and investigate, and if it can be proven we will take him to court, but sometimes the cases are not proven."
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Which is hard to believe when one considers growing proof and witnesses and the witch doctors involved remain free. Survivors and their testimony and evidence are discounted and deemed irrelevant. It seems money flows not just to the witch doctors but to the police as well, who most of the time, refuse to investigate or become involved.

The BBC decided to do some more thorough investigations after speaking to a surgeon and then the family of a 9 year old boy who suffered horrific injuries when he survived a kidnapping and attack by a local witch doctor.. Locals had advised the BBC that he was still practicing and remained free.

For our own inquiries, we posed as local businessmen and asked around for a witch doctor that could bring prosperity to our local construction company. We were soon introduced to Awali. He led us into a courtyard behind his home, and as if to welcome us he and his helpers wrestled a goat to the ground and slit its throat.

"This animal has been sacrificed to bring luck to us all," Awali explained. He then demanded a fee of $390 (£250) for the ritual and asked us to return in a few days.

At our next meeting, Awali invited us into his shrine, which is traditionally built from mud bricks with a straw roof. Inside, the floor is littered with herbs, face masks, rattles and a machete.

The witch doctor explained that this meeting was to discuss the most powerful spell - the sacrifice of a child.

"There are two ways of doing this," he said. "We can bury the child alive on your construction site, or we cut them in different places and put their blood in a bottle of spiritual medicine."

Awali grabbed his throat. "If it's a male, the whole head is cut off and his genitals. We will dig a hole at your construction site, and also bury the feet and the hands and put them all together in the hole."

Awali boasted he had sacrificed children many times before and knew what he was doing. After this meeting, we withdrew from the negotiations.

We handed our notes to the police. Awali is still a free man.
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The fear of course is that as people desire more money, more children will die or be mutilated. And the practice of mutilation is not solely a problem in Uganda. Blood rituals is on the rise elsewhere, including the West and these children are being trafficked solely for that purpose.

Uganda has also been found to be the leading country in child trafficking to the UK for "Juju". The US reports that 9,000 children have gone missing in Uganda in the last four years alone. While some are sacrificed in Uganda itself, others are sold or sent to other countries, including the UK.

Figures compiled by Ecpat, combined with those of the Metropolitan Police and Ceop, the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre, show that at least 400 African children have been abducted and trafficked to the UK and rescued by the British authorities.

Testimonies from many of these children have revealed that once they arrive in Britain, they are exposed to violent and degrading treatments, often involving the forced extraction of their blood to be used for clients demanding blood rituals.
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It must be said at this point that in the UK at least, the greater majority of witch doctors or faith healers do not partake in the practice of blood sacrifice or ritualistic killing or child trafficking. Those that do however show a complete disregard for the children they are stealing to satisfy the needs and desires of their more wealthy clients. The US State Department advises that Uganda is the main source for children to be sold or bought or trafficked to the UK and elsewhere. In the last 4 years, 9,000 children have gone missing.


I wonder how, in today's society, that this could even be happening and on the rise? How and why are wealthy people in Uganda and even in Western countries willing to do this with the belief it will make them richer? The telling theme with this is that it is the wealthy fueling the demand for these horrific practices. The wealthy and the educated.

 

I think one of the most disturbing aspects of this is that it is on the rise amongst the educated and wealthy elites in Uganda and elsewhere, like the UK.

In that I wonder what drives them to seek these kinds of horrific practices out in the first place? The rise in sacrificial killing and mutilation of children came about because more people were getting richer and therefore having more access to better education and opportunities. Why go back to this sort of thing when it was, according to the BBC at least, fairly uncommon in Uganda?

 

The links I provided gave a very clear indication of where some of that blood was coming from. This is not happening in medical practices in the UK, but with faith based healers and witch doctors, who are apparently springing up.

Testimonies from many of these children have revealed that once they arrive in Britain, they are exposed to violent and degrading treatments, often involving the forced extraction of their blood to be used for clients demanding blood rituals.

Some of these victims agreed to share their experiences on the promise of anonymity because they still fear their abusers.

One boy explained how witch-doctors took his blood to be used in such rituals: "The traffickers or witch-doctors take your hair and cut your arms, legs, heads and genitals and collect the blood. They say if you speak out I can kill you."

Another victim feared for her life, saying the "witch-doctor told me that one day he would need my head.

"Sometimes I would wake up and he would be standing over me with a knife, every night I was terrified that he would do it."

Meanwhile, a girl from Nigeria remains convinced the spell performed on her means she can never identify her traffickers, for fear her family will die.
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Clear enough, wouldn't you say. And it is corroborated by the charities in the UK:

According to Christine Beddoe, director of the anti-trafficking charity Ecpat UK, a cultural belief in the power of human blood in so-called juju rituals is playing a part in the demand for African children.​

One of the most disheartening things about this is in the picture file, compiled by the BBC, with descriptions. In at least one of the images, it describes how some male children are now being circumcised in the hope it will dissuade witch doctors from harming the boys as a circumcised penis is deemed impure and girls are having their ears pierced by their parents and family members from a very young age, in a bid to protect them as it may make them "unsuitable" for sacrifice. So parents are being forced to "scar" their children in a bid to protect them.


Now, you point to the fact that I have blood transfusions. The blood I am getting is not from kidnapped children and the blood is not being used in a sacrificial offering to the gods or spirits. I think a very clear distinction needs to be made there. In Uganda at least, there appears to be a clear move from animal sacrifice to human sacrifice and this may be a fairly new phenomenon there, if the BBC is to be understood correctly.

 

Then you need to re-read the articles linked. The children in Uganda are being kidnapped and murdered in sacrificial killings. Many of the children being trafficked into the UK are being held and kept for ritualistic purposes. That is what the article actually says. It also states that child sacrifice in Uganda (at least) is on the rise and the police are not investigating it or getting involved, possibly due to police corruption. Charity organisations dealing specifically with child trafficking advise that some of the children being sent into the UK are, to quote what I already quoted previously:

a cultural belief in the power of human blood in so-called juju rituals is playing a part in the demand for African children.​

Now this pertains to the children being trafficked into the UK and possibly elsewhere. But in Uganda proper, child sacrifice is on the rise. Jubilee Campaign, an organisation involved in child protection around the world, have a report on child sacrifice and you can even sign a petition in the bid to get the Governments to try to force an end to the practice. Here is a direct link to the report on child sacrifice: http://www.jubileecampaign.co.uk/documents/end-child-sacrifice-report.pdf

Which is what the BBC report is actually based on.

Now, it seems that you do not believe that this practice is on the rise in Uganda. In the UK, "Juju" rituals are on the rise and witch doctors and faith type healers are pretty much growing in demand. The police, tasked with child trafficking and child endangerment advised on the issue of children being used for "Juju" rituals in the UK, something the Ugandan police advise and admit is happening:

"The head of Uganda's Anti-Human Sacrifice Police Task Force, Commissioner Bignoa Moses, admits there is a problem: "We cannot rule out that children end up abroad because as of now we don't have the capacity to monitor each individual and many simply disappear."

Back in the UK, despite the testimony of so many victims, the cultural belief in the power of juju is a huge challenge for the authorities.

One senior police detective says part of the problem is the silence that surrounds the matter.

"While juju is widely believed, it is rarely spoken about publicly. People think even talking about juju might lead to something bad happening to them," says Det Ch Supt Richard Martin, head of the Metropolitan Police's Human Exploitation and Organised Crime Command.

"This presents officers with enormous difficulties when it comes to investigating these crimes and bringing the perpetrators to justice."​

At no time did I ever claim that children were being smuggled into the UK for human sacrifice. I did state and correctly so that it is on the rise in countries like Uganda and as Gustav has also linked, in South Africa. Children being trafficked into the UK include some who will be held specifically for Juju rituals there. Whether those children are sacrificed there remains to be seen.

One such interview of a child in Uganda, with a massive scar in his head where a witch doctor had attempted to decapitate him, and he has had his genitals cut off in the ritual, are you saying that the child, his doctors or his family are offering a biased report? And you criticise the BBC for interviewing those involved directly in their case? I'm sorry, but what exactly did you expect? A respectful interview where the beliefs of some who see fit to murder children in the hope of appeasing the spirits of wealth, so they may become wealthy is wisely represented? There can be no unbiased report on this Asguard. When it involves the slaughter of children at the request and order of wealthy people, so that they can appease some ritualistic belief that decapitating children and slicing off the children's genitals will make them wealthier, there is no right in what they are doing.

The Jubilee report is clear. This is a new phenomenon in Uganda.

The purpose of this thread is to possibly discuss why and how it has come to pass that wealthy Ugandans suddenly feel the need to sacrifice children to increase their wealth. Where does that belief stem from?

The report also states:

Human and Child Sacrifice has no place in Uganda‘s historical use of traditional healers but is a criminal activity undertaken by those posing as traditional healers with the intent of exploiting people‘s religious beliefs in order to profit financially. A report by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting in April 2010 entitled ‗Uganda: Child Sacrifice Not a Cultural Issue‘ stated, ―(Child Sacrifice) has slowly embedded itself within traditional customs, although it is not genuinely related to the local culture. The claim that it falls within Ugandan 'cultural beliefs' is just an excuse used by so-called traditional healers to justify their crimes, and by the Ugandan government to avoid taking action. The government tries to minimize the magnitude of the problem, as politicians are afraid of losing votes in a country where witchdoctors yield such influence as to define election results.‖

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The report is gruesome and frankly, disgusting. Its case studies are enough to turn the stomach.

The report also states that in traditional Ugandan culture, the usual practice in some villages would be to sacrifice an animal. Not a child. So how did it switch to children? What drove witch doctors and their wealthy clients to deem that children are better?

The BBC are not the only ones who have been investigating the sudden appearance and rise of child sacrifice in Uganda. Nor was The Guardian in 2009.

Which culture am I damning exactly?

The poor people who are being targetted by the wealthy in Uganda? The new culture which has seen witch doctors stealing their neighbour's children for child sacrifice because they are paid to? The new culture which has the wealthy buying children for sacrifice from poor parents?

Let me make something clear to you Asguard. This is not a part of Ugandan culture. This is a fairly new phenomenon. Human sacrifice as per the Jubilee report states that child sacrifice of this nature is new and until fairly recently, was fairly unheard of in Uganda. But more worrying is the fact that the police are at times refusing to investigate or even become involved and in at least one instance, tried to bribe the family to not pursue the matter.

So do you think all are lying? Because the UN does not have a specific report on the matter?

If so, then state your case. I have provided more than enough proof to show that this is happening and is on the rise in Uganda. You seem to be sitting on the fence feeling guilty because you think my criticising the practice is damning a whole culture, even with evidence that child sacrifice was not a part of Ugandan culture and is fairly new and recent.

 

At no time did I say that 4,000 children are being smuggled into the UK for child sacrifice. So I really do not know where you got that from..

What I did state, quoted and linked was that some of the children smuggled into the UK from countries like Uganda are being used for ritualistic practices which involve blood rituals. The articles also quoted testimony from children recovered by the UK police who reported of the practices of taking blood from them for "Juju" rituals. They also carry the scars to prove their case, as do the child survivors in Uganda.