Salvage work continues
More than 200 dead in Kenyan “hunger cult” – 26 arrests
Exhumed corpses of the “hunger sect” in Kenya
© Uncredited/AP/DPA
A cult leader in Kenya told his followers to starve to death. The bodies have been recovered for weeks, the extent of which is difficult to predict. The local morgue is already overcrowded.
The number of victims of a “hunger cult” in the coastal region of Kenya rose to more than 200 on Saturday. According to Kenyan media, regional head of authorities Rhoda Onyancha said 22 other victims were exhumed on Saturday. The number of dead sect members is currently 201 mostly starved victims. No survivors were found in the Shakahola forest near Malindi on Saturday.
Kenya: More than 200 dead in “hunger sect”
One can only speculate about the total number of victims of the sect, because new people are still being reported missing by relatives. On Saturday, the number of missing sect members had risen to 610.
With the arrest of another suspect, the number of those arrested rose to 26 – including the cult leader. He is currently in custody and had failed with an application for release on bail.
The self-proclaimed pastor, a former taxi driver, founded his church “Good News International Church” in 2003 and most recently lived in isolation with his followers in the forest area. He is said to have asked believers to starve themselves to death in order to be close to Jesus. On the instructions of the sect leader, his followers had broken off contact with their relatives, given up their jobs and stopped sending their children to school. Outsiders were therefore hardly aware of what was going on in the forest.
Local hospital morgues overwhelmed
About four weeks ago, the police found severely malnourished people in critical condition in the forest area, which was later combed through for mass graves.
The exhumations of the numerous mass graves in the forest are to be resumed on Tuesday, it said. The search for possible survivors, however, should continue on Sunday. The interruption of the excavations was justified by logistical requirements.
In view of the high number of deaths, the capacities in the morgue of the local hospital have long been exhausted. The Kenyan Red Cross had brought a refrigerated container to the region in which the dead can initially be stored. So far, DNA samples have been taken from 93 corpses for identification. In addition, the remains of 14 cult victims were handed over to their families for burial, Onyancha said.
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The autopsies that had already been carried out on the dead found starvation to be the cause of death in the majority of cases. But there were also children who died from blunt force or suffocation.
In the Kenyan public, the case is now referred to as the “Shakahola massacre”. He has also started a discussion about stricter rules and minimum standards for registering religious communities. A commission commissioned by the government is to draw up recommendations within the next six months. The aim is to prevent the development of questionable sects as well as the spread of religious extremism.
In addition to the major denominations, around 4,000 free and evangelical churches are registered in the predominantly Christian East African country.