Fears were growing in Kenya yesterday that there could be more victims of a starvation cult, as investigators resumed their searches after finding dozens of corpses in mass graves.
Police have spent days scouring the Shakahola forest near the coastal town of Malindi after receiving a tip-off about a cult led by Paul Mackenzie Nthenge, who urged his followers to starve to death in order to find god.
Police sources late on Monday said that the death toll was 73, with a number of people rescued and taken to hospital.
Photo: Reuters
The grim discovery has sent shock waves through the nation, prompting Kenyan President William Ruto to pledge a crackdown on “unacceptable” religious movements amid fears that the toll was set to climb higher.
“We believe there are more,” Inspector General of Police Japhet Koome told reporters on Monday.
It is believed some followers of the Good News International Church could still be hiding in the bush around Shakahola and at risk of death if not quickly found.
Hussein Khalid, executive director of the rights group Haki Africa that tipped off the police, urged the authorities to send more rescuers to scour the 325 hectares of woodland for survivors.
“Each day that passes by there is very high possibility that more are dying,” he said. “The horror that we have seen over the last four days is traumatizing. Nothing prepares you for shallow mass graves of children.”
Investigators said they found bodies squeezed into shallow pits — with up to six people inside one grave — while others were simply left outside on the ground.
Kenyan Minister of Interior and National Administration Kithure Kindiki yesterday announced plans to visit the site, while Ruto vowed to take action against rogue pastors like Nthenge, “who want to use religion to advance weird, unacceptable ideology,” comparing them to terrorists.
As the Kenyan authorities try to uncover the true scale of what is being dubbed the “Shakahola Forest Massacre,” questions have emerged about how the cult was able to operate undetected, despite Nthenge attracting police attention six years ago.
The televangelist in 2017 was arrested on charges of “radicalization” after urging families not to send their children to school, saying education was not recognized by the Bible.
He was arrested again last month, local media reported, after two children starved to death in the custody of their parents.
He was released on bail of 100,000 Kenyan shillings (US$737) before surrendering to police following the Shakahola raid.
The case is due to be heard on Tuesday next week.
The Kenya Red Cross said 212 people had been reported missing to its support staff in Malindi, out of which two were reunited with their families.
The case has prompted calls for tighter control of fringe denominations in a nation with a troubling history of self-declared pastors and cults that have dabbled in criminality.
DIALOGUE: US president-elect Donald Trump on his Truth Social platform confirmed that he had spoken with Xi, saying ‘the call was a very good one’ for the US and China US president-elect Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) discussed Taiwan, trade, fentanyl and TikTok in a phone call on Friday, just days before Trump heads back to the White House with vows to impose tariffs and other measures on the US’ biggest rival. Despite that, Xi congratulated Trump on his second term and pushed for improved ties, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The call came the same day that the US Supreme Court backed a law banning TikTok unless it is sold by its China-based parent company. “We both attach great importance to interaction, hope for
‘GREAT OPPRTUNITY’: The Paraguayan president made the remarks following Donald Trump’s tapping of several figures with deep Latin America expertise for his Cabinet Paraguay President Santiago Pena called US president-elect Donald Trump’s incoming foreign policy team a “dream come true” as his nation stands to become more relevant in the next US administration. “It’s a great opportunity for us to advance very, very fast in the bilateral agenda on trade, security, rule of law and make Paraguay a much closer ally” to the US, Pena said in an interview in Washington ahead of Trump’s inauguration today. “One of the biggest challenges for Paraguay was that image of an island surrounded by land, a country that was isolated and not many people know about it,”
‘FIGHT TO THE END’: Attacking a court is ‘unprecedented’ in South Korea and those involved would likely face jail time, a South Korean political pundit said Supporters of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol yesterday stormed a Seoul court after a judge extended the impeached leader’s detention over his ill-fated attempt to impose martial law. Tens of thousands of people had gathered outside the Seoul Western District Court on Saturday in a show of support for Yoon, who became South Korea’s first sitting head of state to be arrested in a dawn raid last week. After the court extended his detention on Saturday, the president’s supporters smashed windows and doors as they rushed inside the building. Hundreds of police officers charged into the court, arresting dozens and denouncing an
CYBERSCAM: Anne, an interior decorator with mental health problems, spent a year and a half believing she was communicating with Brad Pitt and lost US$855,259 A French woman who revealed on TV how she had lost her life savings to scammers posing as Brad Pitt has faced a wave of online harassment and mockery, leading the interview to be withdrawn on Tuesday. The woman, named as Anne, told the Seven to Eight program on the TF1 channel how she had believed she was in a romantic relationship with the Hollywood star, leading her to divorce her husband and transfer 830,000 euros (US$855,259). The scammers used fake social media and WhatsApp accounts, as well as artificial intelligence image-creating technology to send Anne selfies and other messages
RSS