In the past two weeks police have found 18 bodies dumped along the streets, all of the bodies had been mutilated.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Police find 18 mutilated bodies from suspected ritual killings in the past 2 weeks
- Scared families hide indoors while vigilantes patrol the Cameroon capital
- Ritual killings ended in the 1970s, but are now resurging
- Suspects have been arrested, police say, but not charged
On Friday, police found
Michele's corpse with four other bodies dumped outside a kindergarten
school. Fighting back tears, Deborah Ngoh Tonye described what was left
of her sister's gruesome corpse. Someone had removed Michele's genitals,
tongue, eyes, hair, and breasts.
Michele's bizarre murder
is believed to be part of a wave of killings linked to occult rituals
that has triggered panic in Yaounde, the capital city of more than 2
million people in the West African nation of Cameroon.
In the past two weeks
police have found 18 bodies dumped along the streets. Authorities said
all of the bodies had been mutilated. Officials have not said if the
female victims among the 18 bodies had been raped.
State security officials
said Tuesday the bodies have been identified. The victims, who are
between the ages of 15 and 26, are mostly Yaounde high school students,
police said. They said a number of suspects have been arrested in the
case, but so far no one has been charged.
State intelligence
officials have launched an investigation to track down the killers, said
Communications Minister Tchiroma Bakari.
In some regions of the
country, traditional healers claim eyes, genitals, tongues and other
organs have mystical powers. Some occultists believe such organs hold
the keys to gaining wealth and other good fortune.
Until the 1970s, ritual
killings were a common cultural practice in Cameroon, before education
became more widespread. Signs of its gradual resurgence beginning last
year have shaken much of the city.
The fear is most
noticeable as evenings approach. Many families lock themselves indoors
beginning in the late hours of the day, while young men band together in
vigilante groups, roaming the streets looking for killers.
Police have shut down
dozens of bars that are suspected as hangouts for criminals. Security
officials warn pedestrians, especially girls, to walk in groups.
Fears about occult
groups and human organs gained strength in late 2012 when Health
Minister Andre Mama Fouda fired a laboratory technician and four
mortuary attendants. They admitted to trading organs harvested from dead
bodies stored in the mortuary of the state regional hospital in Douala,
Cameroon's largest city.
In Yaounde's public
hospitals, dozens of relatives have complained to administrators about
mutilated corpses, said the minister of public health.
Taking organs for such
uses represents a "gross violation of human rights," said Cameroon human
rights advocate Rosine Djoumessi Masonwa. Local authorities must work
"to end the mutilation of human bodies through strong laws and
widespread education programs."
As she grieves for her sister, Tonye, like so many others, is frightened and worried that more isn't being done.
"There is laxity in the forces in ensuring security in the capital," she said.
