Posted on 02/21/2003 6:03:20 PM PST by latrans
BRAZZAVILLE (Reuters) - Congolese villagers have stoned and beaten to death four teachers accused of casting an evil spell to cause an outbreak of the deadly Ebola disease that has killed nearly 70 people, a local official said Friday.
The outbreak of Ebola in the districts of Kelle and Mbomo near the central African country's northern border with Gabon is thought by scientists to have been caused by the consumption of infected monkey meat.
But many locals believe occult forces are at work.
"In Kelle, people continue to believe that the Ebola disease is a spell that has been cast on them by witches, and four teachers accused of being the cause of the disease have been beaten and stoned to death," said Dieudonne Hossie, a local official. He did not say when the teachers were killed.
"We call on the people of Kelle to be calm. It is the Ebola virus which is raging in the area. It is not an evil spell, it is a scientifically proven virus," Hossie, who was speaking on the official Radio-Congo, said.
We're they members of the NEA?...(Not to be confused with the National Ebola Association)
FMCDH
I'm not saying that this is surely what is going on in the coverage. However, I have a missionary friend who says that pagan tribesmen sometimes blame missionaries for deaths in the tribe. (It's a ploy used by witch doctors trying to fight Christian influence.)
Must have been those cheese eating surrender minkeys from France.
All true. The problem with Africa seems to be tribalism, ethnic hatreds.
Pundits can damn 'colonialism' all they will, but when Britain ran large parts of Africa there was education, sanitation, law and order.
Now they have disease without end, endless tribal warfare. Dead children everywhere.
No, I'm not British, I'm Texan. I have no commercial interest in Africa. I am just a sometimes student of history.
Pundits can damn 'colonialism' all they will, but when Britain ran large parts of Africa there was education, sanitation, law and order.
Now they have disease without end, endless tribal warfare. Dead children everywhere.
Well sure, and more than half of them have AIDS, and they kill evil teachers that cast spells on people to make them sick.
But, this is just another culture. Who are you or I to say our culture is better? Just because they have famines every year, and those who don't die of starvation will die of disease, does not mean our society is superior, even if it is our money, our medicine, and our food that will save those that are saved.
Hank
FReegards.
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