Two Suspected Witches Stoned, Burnt

Two women accused of witchcraft and causing the deaths of several people were publicly stoned and their bodies burnt in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s east, locals said Monday.

The women, aged 60 and 65, were rounded up late Sunday in the South Kivu village of Nyamutiri, said Andre Byaduniya, the head of a civil society in the area.

Timothee Bakanirwa, an official in an adjoining region, said: “The police and the army could not intervene in time to save these two women”.

Nelly Adidja from the Association of Women in Media (AFEM) said 33 women had been killed in South Kivu, Congo last year for alleged sorcery.

“Many others have been chased out of their villages,” she said.