BLANTYRE, Malawi - A bizarre rumour that the Malawi Government is colluding with vampires to collect human blood for international aid agencies in exchange for food has led to a rash of vigilante violence.
President Bakili Muluzi accused unnamed opposition politicians this week of spreading the vampire stories to try toundermine his Government, already hit by political protests and widespread food shortages.
Vampire paranoia has sparked several attacks on suspected bloodsuckers, despite official efforts to kill the rumour.
Last week a man accused of helping vampires was stoned to death and three Roman Catholic priests were beaten up by villagers who suspected them of being bloodsuckers.
Both attacks happened in the southern tea-growing district of Thyolo.
Muluzi told a news conference at the weekend that the vampire stories were malicious and irresponsible. "No government can go about sucking blood of its own people," he said. "That's thuggery."
The rumours have increased political tensions in the country, one of the 10 poorest in the world, where protests have already broken out over Muluzi's efforts to stay in office for another five years.
Muluzi said the rumours were also affecting economic activity in four southern districts as agricultural workers stayed indoors.
The United Nations World Food Programme has estimated more than three million people need emergency food aid in Malawi, one of six southern African countries hit by severe food shortages due to drought.
Stories of vampires sucking people's blood in the dead of the night have been circulating in Mulanje, Thyolo, Chiradzulu and Blantyre for three weeks.
A number of people, mainly women and children, have come forward to testify they have been attacked.
Muluzi warned that any opposition politicians found spreading the vampire stories would be punished.
His Government has already arrested opposition legislators whom it blames for leading protests against Muluzi's efforts to change the constitution.
Parliament narrowly rejected the proposals which would have allowed him to run again when his second and final five-year term ends in 2004.
