Healer arrested for detaining 31 suspected witches

A traditional healer and a village leader have been arrested in Malawi on charges they illegally detained 31 people in a dingy room for three days.

Police say traditional healer Charles Mkanda is suspected of detaining the 31 in an effort to cleanse them of witchcraft influences.

Police found the group, some of them children as young as five, in small room in Bvumbwe, a village some 30 kilometres south of Blantyre. They had not eaten nor left the room for three days.

"They cut a pathetic picture," police spokesman Dennis Kayaka said.

"They all looked sickly and frail from their three-day ordeal."

Mkanda last weekend allegedly used a huge stick decorated with beads to identify the 31 as suspected witches or wizards during a four-hour trance that was part of a drum-beating session.

Police released the 31 and arrested Mkanda, who has been charged with illegal detention of people. Village leader Tayali, who had hired Mkanda, was later arrested on similar charges. Tayali uses only one name.

Witchcraft is common in Malawi, an impoverished southern African country.