More emerges on brutal killings

Arusha. One of the victims during the hacking to death of three agricultural researchers in Dodoma on Saturday watched in horror as two of her colleagues were slashed with axes and machetes before the killers turned on her.

Teddy Lumanga was the last to die in the brutal assault that saw fellow staff with the Arusha-based Selian Agricultural Research Institute (Sari) Faraji Mafuru and Nicas Magazine and herself killed and their bodies set on fire.

An official of the institute, who arrived here yesterday from the scene of crime in Mvumi-Iringa village in Chamwino district, Dodoma region, said the killers may have deliberately spared the lady researcher to make her witness the gruesome murder of her colleagues.

People familiar with the agricultural field research absolved the victims for having failed to act swiftly to save their lives because such a harrowing incident has never happened in the country’s history.

After being surrounded by the villagers who looked possessed and armed with all manner of traditional weapons, the three researchers were pulled out of their vehicle and assaulted.

“The mob was so huge that some local leaders who tried to defend them were forced to flee the scene because of their safety,” remarked the official who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.

He told The Citizen that although accounts of the last moments of the victims were scant, they tried to defend themselves that they were on official duty and may have not realized their lives were in danger since the country has not witnessed such attacks on researchers before.

The official, who arrived in Arusha early yesterday with the bodies of the three slain officials, hinted that even if the trio had realized danger, it may have been difficult for them to flee to safety because of bad terrain and little knowledge of the area.

He nevertheless wondered why it took two hours from the time a false alarm was raised by a woman in the village on the alleged presence of vampires in the area to the time the field researchers finally succumbed after they were attacked and their bodies were burned.

According to accounts at the scene, the female researcher who would be buried in Arusha today, witnessed how her colleagues were cut into pieces before the mobs which looked possessed turned their axes, commonly known in Dodoma region as ‘nyengo’, as well as sticks, machetes and stones were turned on her.

The killings, the official confided to The Citizen,took place outside the vehicle with some body parts already separated from the torso.

“All the body parts were later piled up and set on fire with the aid of farm residues and logs and put on fire,” he said as workers of the institute paid last respects before the bodies of the deceased were taken to their home districts for burial.

The burning did not end there but the already roasted bodies were brought into the vehicle which was also put on more intense fire. The villagers later dispersed and it took hours for the police to reach the scene and realize the horrific killings.

He, however, commended the Dodoma regional leaders and the police for the swift action which has seen the arrest of 45 people suspected of involvement in the brutal killings which has sent shock waves and grief among the agricultural researchers in and around Arusha.

“We condemn in the strongest possible terms this barbaric act. The government should take measures against them and severely punish those behind it,” said Dr. Charles Lyamchai, the research co-ordinator with the institute.

He said the slain officers were neither criminals nor vampires as claimed by the villagers who set on them after a false alarm was raised by a woman. Her screams were echoed by a church leader who told a congregation that the village had been invaded by the alleged blood suckers.

“Our staff had all letters of introduction but those people did not want to listen to them. This is not the Tanzania we knew. The government should take measures against those who took the decision,” he said.

Dr. Eliningaya Kweka, the acting director general the Tropical Pesticides Research Institute (TPRI), another agricultural institution often involved in field studies, said the sector was short of words and pained by the killings and much worried now.

He suggested that although this was an unprecedented incident, wananchi in the remote villages should be adequately sensitized on the research teams frequenting their areas.

“It is terrible. Killing people with axes? It has never happened in this country,” said Cornel Massawe, of the Tengeru Horticultural Institute, one of the partner institutions in agricultural research with Sari.

An assistant director in the ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, Dr. Hussein Mansoor, who flew here on Sunday after learning of the tragedy, admitted that the slaying of the three Selian Ari staff remained a mystery.

“These are no ordinary killings but acts of bestiality,” he told The Citizen at the institute located near the Arusha airport, noting that the deceased had been in the area for days before their lives were cut short.

While investigations by the police are still on, there are reports that a recent utteraces by a local politician in Dodoma may have a hand in the gruesome murder on Saturday.

The slain officials were in the district collecting soil samples under a nation-wide project on soil mapping under the Tanzania Soil Information Services being executed by the Arusha-based institute. At their time of the killing, there were a total of 14 researchers from the institute carrying out soil studies in Dodoma region.

Another researcher, Dr. Lameck Makoye, said staff from the institute doing field studies would normally take precautions in areas where land conflicts are rife but has not seen anything like this.

Selian ARI doubles as the northern zone agricultural research centre and specializes in dryland agriculture focusing on maize, beans, wheat, barley, sunflower and pigeon peas.It was established in the late 1970s to support large scale wheat farming in the northern regions, including the ex-Nafco wheat farms in Hanang district in present day Manyara region.