12 killed as banned Kenyan sect protests: police

AFP

April 14, 2008

NAIROBI (AFP) — At least 12 people were killed Monday in a series of clashes involving Kenyan police and members of a banned Kenyan sect protesting over the killing of their imprisoned leader's wife.

Police said five people were killed in Nairobi, four in central Kenya and three others in the Rift Valley region where members of theMungiki sect were blocking roads and stoning motorists.

Nine of those killed were Mungiki members shot dead by police, while the three others were reportedly civilians caught up in the violence, police officials said.

"We have things under control and have deployed security forces across the country to ensure that peace prevails," national police spokesman Eric Kiraithe told AFP.

"We assure the public that peace will be restored and all these hooligans brought to book," he added.

The Mungiki sect was once a religious group of dreadlocked youths who embraced traditional rituals, but the authorities say it has evolved into a ruthless criminal gang involved in extortion and murder.

The Mungiki members were protesting the killing of Virginia Nyakio, the wife of imprisoned sect leader Maina Njenga. Nyakio'smutilated body was recovered on Friday -- three days after she was seized by unknown kidnappers.

Since March last year, the Mungiki gang has been blamed for murdering dozens of people, including several beheadings, mainly in the slum districts of the capital Nairobi and in central Kenya.

Police responded with a crackdown in which they have killed scores of gang members.

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5ipg4xpOg22o4y5R298zM8imFb2VQ

2,464 sect suspects arrested in Kenya

Malkhadir M. Muhumed, AP Writer, with Tom Odula

Houston Chronicle

June 1, 2007

NAIROBI, Kenya — Police have arrested 2,464 suspected followers of an outlawed religious sect whose members are believed to have beheaded several people in recent months, the government spokesman said Thursday.

The arrests occurred in the past few months, all of suspected Mungiki followers, government spokesman Alfred Mutua told The Associated Press, referring to the shadowy group suspected in the deaths of at least 12 people in the past three months. Six of the bodies were found mutilated or beheaded more than a week ago on the outskirts of the capital.

Mungiki, which means multitude in the Kikuyu language, emerged in the 1990s and was inspired by the Mau Mau rebellion of the 1950s against British colonial rule. It was banned in 2002.

Growing insecurity in the country has raised fears that Mungiki is out to disrupt the general elections scheduled for December, when President Mwai Kibaki is expected to seek a second term.

In recent days, leaflets have been distributed in the capital claiming the sect will hold a rally Friday to expose high-level government officials and lawmakers who are its members.

Late Wednesday, other leaflets were distributed in all of Nairobi's slums, accusing Kibaki's administration of failing to honor election pledges made in 2002 to create jobs and rewrite Kenya's constitution. Those leaflets also claimed that more than 16,000 members of Kenya's security forces were members of the sect and threatened to kill police officers.

Sect leaders rarely speak to journalists and were not immediately available for comment.

Police spokesman Eric Kiraithe said the leaflets were aimed at diverting the police's attention, but the force was on high alert and taking the death threats "very seriously."

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Associated Press writer Tom Odula contributed to this report.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/world/4853279.html