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Agence France-Presse

Kenyan investigators unearthed another 16 bodies on Tuesday in a forest where a cult was believed to be practising mass starvation, bringing the number of victims so far to 89 including children.
There are fears more corpses could be found in Shakahola forest where cult leader Paul Mackenzie Nthenge had allegedly been telling his followers that starvation was the only path to God.
Children are among the latest victims of the “Shakahola Forest Massacre”, with search teams in white overalls still undertaking the macabre task inland from Malindi on Kenya’s Indian Ocean coast.
The grim discovery has shocked the nation and President William Ruto has pledged a crackdown on “unacceptable” religious movements as horrifying details unfold by the day.
We don’t know how many more graves, how many more bodies, we are likely to discover
Kithure Kindiki, Kenya’s interior minister
Visiting the site on Tuesday, Interior Minister Kithure Kindiki warned that worse could still come.
“We don’t know how many more graves, how many more bodies, we are likely to discover,” he told reporters, adding the crimes were serious enough to warrant terrorism charges against Nthenge.
He said 34 people had been found alive so far in the vast forest, where police were tipped off about the cult’s activities and a crime scene has been established.
“The majority of the bodies exhumed are children,” a forensic investigator told Agence France-Presse on condition of anonymity.
As the fatalities mounted, authorities at the state-run Malindi Sub-County Hospital warned that the morgue was running out of space to store the bodies and already operating well over capacity.

“The hospital mortuary has a capacity of 40 bodies,” said the hospital’s administrator Said Ali, adding that officials had reached out to the Kenya Red Cross for refrigerated containers.
It is believed that 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-hectare (800-acre) area of woodland for survivors.
“Each day that passes by there is very high possibility that more are dying,” he told Agence France-Presse, saying 50 to 60 per cent of the victims were children.


“The horror that we have seen over the last four days is traumatising. Nothing prepares you for shallow mass graves of children.”
Investigators told Agence France-Presse they found bodies squeezed into shallow pits – with up to six people inside one grave – while others were simply left outside on the ground.
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 investigation unfolds, questions have emerged about how the cult was able to operate undetected despite Nthenge attracting police attention six years ago.

The televangelist had been arrested in 2017 on charges of “radicalisation” after urging families not to send their children to school, saying education was not recognised by the Bible.
Nthenge was arrested again last month, according to local media, after two children starved to death in the custody of their parents.
He was released on bail of 100,000 Kenyan shillings (US$700) before surrendering to police following the Shakahola raid.
Nthenge is due to appear in court on May 2.
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 country with a troubling history of self-declared pastors and cults that have dabbled in criminality.


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Africa

Kenya starvation cult ‘massacre’ toll climbs to 89

Kenya’s Inspector General of Police, Japhet Koome, second right, tours the scene where dozens of bodies have been found in shallow graves in the village of Shakahola, near the coastal city of Malindi, in southern Kenya. Photo: AP

An unidentified man sits in handcuffs after being arrested accused of having connections with pastor Paul Makenzi, in a forest near the village of Shakahola. Photo: AP

The local spiritual leaders from Kaya-Giriama ethnic group walk to visit the mass-grave site in the forest in Shakahola. Photo: AFP

Police investigating Kenyan ‘starvation cult’ find 26 more bodies, bringing total to 47

Police and local residents carry the exhumed bodies of victims of a religious cult in the village of Shakahola, near Malindi, Kenya on Sunday. Photo: AP 

The exhumed bodies of victims of a religious cult are laid out in the village of Shakahola, near the coastal city of Malindi, Kenya on Sunday. Photo: AP

Kenya police exhume 21 bodies, including 3 children, during investigation into religious cult

Forensic experts and police carry the bodies of suspected members of a cult after their remains were exhumed from their graves in Shakahola forest, Kilifi county, Kenya on Saturday. Photo: Reuters  

Kenya police officers stand guard as forensic experts and police exhume bodies of suspected members of a Christian cult in Shakahola forest, Kilifi county, Kenya on Saturday. Photo: Reuters

World’s most chilling cults, from Japan’s Aum Shinrikyo to Swiss sect Solar Temple

Kenyan homicide detectives and forensic experts from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations examine exhumed bodies from several shallow mass graves of suspected members of a Christian cult after starving themselves to death. Photo:  EPA-EFE

Jim Jones, founder of the People’s Temple sect, is shown in this November 1978 photo in Jonestown, Guyana. Photo: AP

Fire engulfs the Branch Davidian compound near Waco, Texas, in this April 19, 1993 photo. Photo: AP

News

World

Kenyan investigators unearthed another 16 bodies on Tuesday in a forest where a cult was believed to be practising mass starvation
The grim discovery has shocked the nation and President William Ruto has pledged a crackdown on ‘unacceptable’ religious movements


Kenyan investigators unearthed another 16 bodies on Tuesday in a forest where a cult was believed to be practising mass starvation.


Crime

Religion

Cults

Kenya starvation cult ‘massacre’ toll climbs to 89

Kenyan investigators unearthed another 16 bodies on Tuesday in a forest where a cult was believed to be practising mass starvation The grim discovery has shocked the nation and President William Ruto has pledged a crackdown on ‘unacceptable’ religious movements

Kenyan investigators unearthed another 16 bodies on Tuesday in a forest where a cult was believed to be practising mass starvation

The grim discovery has shocked the nation and President William Ruto has pledged a crackdown on ‘unacceptable’ religious movements