Nyau dancers in Chipangali District of Eastern Province have abducted two girls of Musakanya village in Chief Mafuta’s area on allegations that they were mocking the traditional dancers.

Confirming the development in an interview, Esnart Mwale, a family member of the dethroned Chief Mafuta in the same area explained that the girls met their fate as they were about to appear before a village council.

She said the girls aged 13 and 16 years respectively were abducted yesterday around 14:00 hours, and were still being held at ‘Dambwe’ in Chimwala village.

“The girls were abducted yesterday by those Nyau dancers on their way to the village council. It was just in the afternoon around 14:00 hours. They accused them of laughing at the nyau dancers as they walked by. These children, one of them is 13 years old and then the other one is 16 years old. They are both girls. We hear that they are being held at Dambwe in Chimwals village,” explained Mwale.

And Chief Chanje of the Chewa speaking people who also confirmed receipt of the abduction report, indicated that the girls were in their 5th and 8th grades respectively.

Chief Chenje expressed worry at the behaviour of the Gule wamkulu, saying it put the lives of the two girls at risk because their whereabouts still remained unknown.

“I have spoken to the parents of the two young girls and I have advised them to report the matter to the police because it’s not a good thing to harass school children that way. I also want the police to take action so that this can be a lesson to other people. Otherwise, this is worrying because up to now we don’t know where these children are and what is happening to them and men are difficult you can’t know for sure what they are going to do with them,” said Chief Chanje.

Chief Chanje also said that he would personally give a report on the issue to Kalonga Gawa Undi to supplement efforts by the Police to move and bring the culprits to book.

But when contacted for a comment, Eastern Province Police Commissioner Luckson Sakala expressed ignorance over the matter but promised to issue a statement once the report was received.