Eight new bodies were exhumed on Wednesday in Shakahola forest in eastern Kenya, bringing the death toll in a sect that advocated extreme fasting to 98. “Meet Jesus”.
Crudivorism, survivalist courses, new churches… the new trends that worry the state services
After announcing on Tuesday evening a pause in the search for mass graves to conduct autopsies and unclog the morgues, the authorities resumed the excavations on Wednesday morning. “We had a lot of difficulties today with the rain but in the end we had eight bodies out”a police source told AFP, adding: “We will continue operations” this Thursday, April 27.
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39 people found alive
Searches have so far found 39 living people in the vast area of « bush » of 325 hectares squared by the investigators, specified earlier in the day the prefect of the region Rhoda Onyancha. A total of 22 people were taken into custody, she added.
Paul Mackenzie Nthenge, le « pasteur » self-proclaimed member of this group called Eglise Internationale de la Bonne Nouvelle (Good News International Church), is in prison after surrendering to the police on April 14, during the first police operations in the forest. He is due in court on May 2.
Deadly fasting, self-proclaimed “pastor”… What we know about the Shakahola forest massacre in Kenya
The revelation of what is now called “Shakahola Forest Massacre” caused astonishment in Kenya and sparked many calls for repression of sects in this predominantly Christian country.
150 minors missing
Families of cult members have flocked to Malindi City Hospital Mortuary to learn the fate of their loved ones.
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Among them, Issa Ali is waiting, without much hope, to find out if his mother is among the bodies discovered. A follower of the sect, she took him to the Shakahola forest in 2020, before his father took him out last year.
“The last time I saw my mother was in February. She was so weakexplains the young man of 16 years.
Hassan Musa, a Kenyan Red Cross official, told AFP that 311 people, “including 150 minors”were reported missing to the organization in Malindi.
“These are people mainly from Kenya, but also from Tanzania and Nigeria. Some have been missing for years”he detailed.
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The anguish of loved ones
The investigators discover every day with horror the extent of this « massacre »in which a majority of children appear, three sources close to the investigation told AFP.
According to Hussein Khalid, director of the NGO Haki Africa, which alerted the police to the activities of Paul Mackenzie Nthenge, the « pasteur » had advocated starving the children first, then the women and finally the men before the end of the world which was to come in June.
According to him, between 50 and 60% of the bodies recovered are children, found wrapped in cotton fabrics in shallow graves.
“We don’t know how many mass graves, how many bodies, we can find”Interior Minister Kithure Kindiki said on Tuesday, adding that the crimes committed were serious enough to warrant terrorism charges against Paul Mackenzie Nthenge.
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A “pastor” watched for years
Kenyan President William Ruto has vowed to take action against self-proclaimed pastors such as Mr Nthenge “who want to use religion to promote shady and unacceptable ideologies”.
This case also raises many questions about the shortcomings of the police and judicial authorities, who were aware of the « pasteur » for several years.
He was first arrested in 2017, accused of « radicalisation » because he advocated not sending children to school, claiming that education was not recognized in the Bible.
He was arrested again last month, after two starving children were killed by their sect-linked parents. He had dismissed the charges and was released on bail of 100,000 Kenyan shillings (about 670 euros).
