Angry Haitian mobs have lynched at least 45 people recently accusing them of spreading a cholera outbreak that has killed over 2,500 people

The number included at least 14 suspected sorcerers previously known to have been lynched in the far southwestern region of Grand'Anse as local people feared they were spreading cholera with a magical substance. "We have counted 40 people dead in Grand'Anse department alone, where people are attacking natural healers they accuse of cholera-linked witchcraft," said communications ministry official Moise Fritz Evens. Five other people were killed in similar circumstances elsewhere in the country. "The victims - most of them voodoo priests - were stoned or hacked with machetes before being burned in the street," added the official, who was presenting the results of an investigation conducted in Grand'Anse earlier in December 2010. The first lynching cases date back to late November 2010, when mobs hacked or stoned to death their victims. About half of Haiti's population is believed to practice the voodoo religion in some form, though many are thought to also follow other religious beliefs at the same time. Sorcery and spiritual magic have been incorporated into some of the beliefs. Voodoo evolved out of the beliefs that slaves from West Africa brought with them to Haiti. It is now deeply rooted in Haitian culture.