First albino elected to National Assembly in Tanzania

First albino elected to National Assembly in Tanzania

2010-11-03 05:55:06 GMT+7 (ICT)

DAR ES SALAAM, TANZANIA (BNO NEWS) -- An albino was elected to the National Assembly in Tanzania for the first time in history in a country where albinos are frequently targets of attacks and offenses, the BBC reported on Tuesday.

Salum Khalfani Bar'wani was elected to be a member of the National Assembly for the district of Lindi Urban. He was the candidate of the opposition Civic United Front (CUF) party.He is the first albino elected by the people to earn a seat in the Bunge.

Previously, Al-Shymaa Kway-Geer, an albino woman, was appointed two years ago to the Parliament of Tanzania. However, Kway-Geer was not elected by the people but nominated by President Jakaya Kikwete as one of the ten unelected members of parliament.

"This win is a victory not only for me but also for all the albinos in this country," Bar'wani said. "I am so touched that this is the first time in the electoral history of this country for an albino to be elected by the people in a popular contest to be their representative in parliament - and not through sympathy votes or decisions."

Albinos in Tanzania have suffered widespread persecution, mainly from body-snatchers that sell them to witch doctors who claim that magic potions made with albino body parts can bring good luck.

Over the past years, dozens of Tanzanian albinos have been killed in the eastern African nation and the persecution and murder of albinos have also spread to the neighboring Burundi. Last August, a Kenyan man was sentenced to 17 years of imprisonment for trying to sell an albino.

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