Thieves robbing the graves of Sierra Leone’s Ebola victims
FREETOWN, SIERRA LEONE— Salamatu Sheriff’s husband, Osman, was one of about 4,000 Sierra Leoneans who died in the Ebola outbreak that erupted in West Africa two years ago.
In February, she discovered her suffering wasn’t over.
“His grave was opened and robbed of all the ceramic balusters, flowers and other decorations,” said Sheriff, 45, who owns a small shop on the western outskirts of the capital. “We were shocked. This has just brought back all our memories of pain.”
She is not alone. Thieves plundered more than 250 graves in Freetown’s seven cemeteries in January and early February, according to figures released by the city council late last month.
“Why can’t they leave the dead to finally rest in peace and undisturbed?” said Sulaiman Zainu-Parker, the city council’s environment and social officer. “For thieves to rob graves is a total disgrace to us as a nation.”
The wave of looting is the latest twist in a public health nightmare for Sierra Leone. The World Health Organization, or WHO, declared the country free of Ebola in November. But in January, two new cases surfaced.
Sierra Leoneans, though poor, commonly bury their loved ones with valuable items in addition to spending lavishly on crypt ornaments and caskets.
Public health officials said corpses buried for months would not spread Ebola. But they might carry other diseases, especially when grave robbers leave them behind in the open air, said Sidie Yayah, communications director for Sierra Leone’s National Ebola Response Centre.
The Kingtom Cemetery has been espe- cially hit by grave robbers, although authorities didn’t provideexact numbers of graves plundered there. Many Ebola victims were laid to rest in Kingtom because public health officials wanted to keep infected corpses in one place lest they transmit the virus. Around 60 per cent of the more than 6,000 graves in the cemetery hold Ebola victims.
Christopher Coker, a 50-year-old farmer, said many of the items stolen from his brother’s grave in Ascension Town Cemetery, other than his wedding ring, were clearly meant to be buried with a dead person — meaning whoever took them has few options for finding buyers.
“The police need to critically investigate mortuary owners and operators in the country,” said Coker. “They are the only ones who will buy such items because they have the knowledge to reuse them.”
Sheik Abass Gbla, a Muslim religious leader in Sierra Leone, said poverty is no excuse for grave-robbing.
“This is not about hardship,” he said. “It’s about provoking the dead.”