Unearthing the Mysterious Attacks in Southern Africa
Inspector General of Police Kakoma Kanganja said five people believed to be behind the attacks have been arrested and charged with murder at a media briefing at Police Service Headquarters on February 22nd. Source
New York — A flurry of rumors about gas attacks and ritual, spiritualistic killings have led to widespread hysteria in the southern African nation of Zambia.
This panic has spread via social media posts claiming unidentified assailants have been using noxious gas to immobilize victims before assaulting them in their homes. Additionally, numerous reports of ritual killings have been made throughout the country, leaving egregiously mutilated victims in their wake. The validity of all of these stories, however, is in question.
According to local sources, the gas attacks began in December and were confined to the mineral-rich Copperbelt in the country's north but have since spread to Lusaka, Zambia’s capital. The assailants have been reportedly targeting schools, health institutions, businesses, and households. The exact chemical being used is either still unknown or the information is being withheld from the public for undisclosed reasons.
Zambian police stated that 511 reports have been filed in connection to chemical attacks on households, resulting in 1,687 victims.
Chanda Chongo, a 37-year-old housewife, told Reuters that people in her neighborhood are living in fear, anxious that their house will be attacked next. “The government needs to do a lot more. My neighbor’s daughter was choked last night after her room was sprayed with chemicals,” Chongo told the outlet.
Per a local news site, those who are gassing citizens are being paid by third-party actors, receiving as little as $67 to carry out these assaults.
Since the attacks began, Britain and the United States have issued travel alerts to their citizens, warning them to exercise caution in the country.
The police have arrested 16 people suspected of being behind the attacks and President Edgar Lungu has ordered soldiers to join the police in patrolling the streets.
A market in Zambia. Cr: mofatt
Perhaps the most curious aspect of these attacks is the mystery shrouding the motives. After two months, no concrete evidence has been presented on the perpetrators, despite the numerous arrests. The government claims to have apprehended the attackers, although few details have been revealed.
Several of the social media posts that have fueled the panic have been called into question as well. Even a viral video of gas attack victims laying dead at a school has been debunked.
Via News recently spoke to Zambian politician, Anthony Bwala, about the attacks. Mr. Bwala has criticized the current administration’s handling of the situation, “The Patriotic Front(PF) and their surrogates have continued emphasizing the narrative that they know who the gassers are and yet, for two months since the first reports in Chingola, they have done nothing to stop this war against our citizens.”
Mr. Bwala went on to upbraid the government for releasing so little information on the attacks. He is not alone in his criticism, as these events have led to tense political infighting between the ruling Patriotic Front and Mr. Bwala’s opposition party, the United Party for National Development (UNDP).
Several Patriotic Front supporters have even blamed the opposition for the attacks, claiming their motives are to destabilize the country for political purposes.
Speaking during a Patriotic Front forum in Lusaka, the party’s media director, Sunday Chanda, said the enemy of the state had a very clear agenda to instill fear in the population and sow seeds of doubt in the current government.
One local outlet publicly claimed government ministers were behind the attack. The source alleges that Home Affairs Minister Stephen Kampyongo, Keizer Zulu, and Valden Findley were the masterminds behind the attacks, hoping to destabilize the country. There has been no corroboration for this claim.
As fear of the gas attacks grows, rumors of ritual killings have fueled public anxiety. Much like the chemical attack panic, there are also many conflicting narratives on the validity of these events.
Professor Mubanga Kashoki of the University of Zambia says ritual killings are perceived by some as acts of "spiritual fortification.”
"The use of human body parts for medicinal purposes is based on the belief that it is possible to appropriate the life-force of a person through its literal consumption by another," he told Turkish news outlet, the World Bulletin.
An aerial photograph of downtown Lusaka Source
There have been reports of a connection between the gassings and the ritual killings. Some believe the gas attackers will use chemicals to knock-out their victims in order to steal their blood or body parts. There is still no evidence to support these fears.
Zambia’s Deputy Inspector General, Bonny Kapeso, has said there are no ritual killings happening anywhere in the country.
However, this would not be the first time ritual killings were reported in the country. In 2016, six bodies were found in Lusaka in what was believed to be a ritual killing.
Doubts in the attacks’ validity have not stymied widespread unrest as a result of these stories. The fear of attacks has led to far more deaths than the actual attacks themselves.
Forty-three people have been killed by vigilante mobs, marauding towns searching for individuals thought to be behind the gas attacks and killings. Many of the victims were later found to be innocent and the accusations baseless.
Zambia was recently in the news after America’s ambassador to the nation was unceremoniously kicked from his post for criticizing the Zambian government’s jailing of a homosexual couple.
Read our article on the ambassador here.
This story is ongoing due to the government’s hesitance to release information. The contradictory narratives from those on the ground have made a clear understanding of the situation elusive. In the coming weeks, we expect to learn more as the country stabilizes.