Butchered children with missing organs are being found on a daily basis in north Uganda - in what is believed to be a recent increase in human sacrifices by a minority of witchcraft followers.
There are even reports of young girls being buried alive beneath newly built buildings - which is believed to give the new structures some sort of luck in the minds of depraved witch-doctors.
There are also fears that organs from these children are being sold to wealthy individuals in eastern and western countries.
A group funded by the Irish charity Trocaire, Facilitation for Peace and Development (FAPAD), is leading the campaign for police and government action on this sick killing spree in and around a large rural town called Lira in the Lango region.
The brutal attacks have escalated since the start of the year with one dead child being dumped almost every day.
Eunice Apio of FAPAD – which is funded by Trocaire in Uganda – said: “Children are being snatched, stolen, and abducted almost every day and reappear either headless or without internal body organs.”
Eunice is supported by the local media in Lira - which is hugely influential and often hear of crimes and events before the police.
She is appealing for the Ugandan government to set up road blocks to check bikes and cars for children – and wants witchcraft, which has a secretive minority following, to be banned.
“Witch doctors are partly to blame up here,” she said.
Eunice said that there have been many attempted child abductions stopped by quick thinking witnesses.
She said that in one incident a car full of men who looked of Asian decent had grabbed a young boy, until they were seen by a local man who chased them until they let the boy go.
I spoke to the shocked father of one three year old boy, who he found with no left arm and with her chest ripped open showing that the heart, liver and pancreas was removed.
School teacher for the disabled, Peter Odongo, who lives in Lira with his wife Aceng (28) and children, was in a sub county called Loro in the Oyan district for a week visiting relatives when little Okello Chrispus went missing on December 15 last.
He said: “He disappeared and could not be found, but five days later on December 20 he was found dead in the bush in the county.
“I was the second person on the scene.
“The child was slaughtered – cut from the chest and his organs removed, maybe to be used by witchdoctors – but others suspect organs were sold.
“His left arm was also removed, maybe to prove that the organs came from him.”
The police were called and a post mortem was carried out the following day proving that organs were removed, possibly for rituals.
The visibly shocked father said he does not know if he can go back to teach.
He looked to be still in shock and appeared confused, angry and lost about what to do, but yet was able to tell his story clearly.
He said he hopes that by telling the rest of the world about what is happening some pressure can be put on the Ugandan authorities to find and lock up these child killers, who would be condemned to death if found and convicted.
He said: “My child was very intelligent at 3 years. He would scribble a,b,c and 1 and 2 and 3.
“We heard of this happening sometimes in Kampala [the Ugandan capital] but not here until now.”
He does not yet know if there was a witness to the slaughter of his child, but he said that a suspect was quickly identified and arrested by police and detained while he awaits charges, though without evidence it’s likely he will be released.
Peter is hoping that the Ugandan police – many of whom are well known for taking bribes – will properly investigate the murder.
Peter came to the FAPAD centre in Lira, which is helping him get assistance from the authorities and anything else he needs.
He said he has told his remaining three children, aged eight months to eight, not to go out - fearing they will suffer the same horror.
Assistant Inspector of Ugandan Police in Lira, Apio Christine, who is also the child protection officer, told me there have been recent horrendous child atrocities, related to either witchcraft or the sale of organs, or possibly both.
She arrived to the FAPAF building at the request of Eunice to explain to me what they are doing about the recent child deaths.
She was given a cold bottle of coca cola - which is a luxury in this part of Uganda where there is little or no electricty and few food and drink supplies - and sat on an old couch in an empty office for the brief interview.
She said: “Children are being found a lot now with parts of their bodies missing.”
Insp Christine said they are investigating each case with the resources they have – which are so bad that they need help from groups like FAPAD to bring victims to them in Lira town to save police the expense of petrol.
She said a man was jailed for life last year after he burned his child alive in a home in what was believed to have been a human sacrifice.
FAPAD said that witch doctors, who can actually apply for a license to operate, may be hired by wealthy people who want to bless new buildings with the organs or blood being buried in them.
There is even a report that a young girl was buried alive in a hole left in the floor of a brand new building for a sort of sacrificial opening ceremony to give it luck, but police refused to dig up the building.
FAPAD said there have also been many attempted abductions.
They say that these are “atrocities” reminiscent of the massacres of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA).
“People are scared and angry. Something had better be done and quick,” said Eunice Apio.
Local journalist on Unity FM, Kim Luegulu, - who is very well known and influential in Lira – said: “Every day we get a report of a child being found dead with organs removed.
“And the story of the three year old being found by her father with an arm and organs removed is one of the most horrific.
“People have seen attempted abductions from motorbikes, and there is even a song out here about it called “Stop Child Sacrifice.”
Kim said witchcraft is practiced by a tiny minority of people who they believe might be very wealthy – paying others to kidnap the children.
He said there have already been cases of suspects beaten by mobs.
“What’s needed here is mobilisation. We are trying to engage our local leaders,” he said.
Large demonstrations on this new and increasingly worrying issue in Uganda have been held in recent weeks.
Trocaire’s Programme Officer for Uganda Sean Farrell, said they will help by continuing their funding of FAPAD and keeping in close contact with them regarding their needs.
He said: “Following the decades of war, where children were abducted, used as child soldiers and totally abused, it’s terrible to think that at this point when the war is over that children are still facing such awful and despicable denials of their rights.”
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