EIGHT women in the remote north of Guinea-Bissau were reportedly poisoned and murdered, a top official said on Thursday.
The ladies were accused of practising witchcraft, according to AFP reports.
Trojan News reports that an animist priest forced the women to swallow poison when two children in the Cacheu district of Culade died suddenly from illness.
A senior administrative officer in the town, Carlos Sanha, detailed that the eight ladies, all over the age of 50, died while 21 others were hospitalized in the local capital of Sao Domingos.
Sanha said, “It keeps recurring in this area,where traditional animist beliefs remain strong,
“We intend to take the decisions needed to put an end to these practices from ancestral times.
“It’s sad and unacceptable in the 21st century. We can no longer tolerate such practices.”
