Mass graves
On April 9, 2023, after receiving a report from some hunters trapping animals in the Shakahola forest outside the coastal town of Malindi, that they had seen several people looking very emaciated, living in makeshift huts covered with leaves, trying to hide when discovered, Malindi police conducted an inspection.
“At first, I thought they were rhino poachers for their horns, but when we entered their house, we were shocked to see 15 people, skin and bones, lying on the ground with rotting leaves,” Lieutenant Charles Kamau, head of Malindi’s crime investigation department, told Africa Today. “We immediately carried them to the forest gate and called an ambulance to take them to hospital, but two days later, four of them died of severe exhaustion despite the doctors’ efforts to save them…”
The investigation results of the 11 survivors showed that they were followers of the “International Church” sect led by a man named Makenzie Nthenge. According to the testimony of these 11 people, “cult leader” Makenzie Nthenge forced followers to fast 20 days a month to be able to “meet God”. Nkabie, a woman among the survivors, recounted: “Makenzie asked us to live separately from society so that our souls could be “purified”. Every day, we only drank water and prayed. Some people died of exhaustion, their bodies were taken away by others but no one knew where.”
Based on witness testimony, police expanded the search to a 3.2 square kilometre area and found several places where the ground appeared to have been recently dug up and covered over. “Suspecting that this was a burial site, we invited the forensics department to join the excavation,” said Lieutenant Charles Kamau, head of Malindi’s criminal investigation department. In the first pit, they found 21 bodies in an advanced stage of decomposition. “We did not find any toxic substances – including drugs – in the tissue samples, but the stomachs of all the bodies were empty, indicating that they had not eaten for a long time before they died,” added Dr Ougadou, a forensics team member.
On April 21, another mass grave was discovered, this time containing 26 people, all with the same denominator as the first grave. On April 24, 25, and 26, the police found three more graves with 56 people, still in a fresh state. When asked to identify them through photos, the surviving victims confirmed that all the dead were followers of the “International Church” who had lived with them in the camps in the Shakahola forest.
What is the “international church”?
Founded in 2003 by Mackenzie Nthenge, a former taxi driver in Nairobi, Kenya, the international church has attracted thousands of followers based on Mackenzie’s claim that he “can talk to God (!?)”, along with his anti-US government , anti-United Nations and anti-Roman Catholic statements. According to Mackenzie, all of these entities are “tools of the devil and will be punished on the last day (meaning the end of the world)”.
At first, the Kenyan government did not pay attention to Mackenzie and his cult because in this African country, indigenous tribes have their own spiritual rituals with very strange and even unscientific forms, such as stabbing a knife into a cow's artery to let the blood spray on the person to neutralize the spells of hostile tribes that want to harm them.
However, in 2017, Malindi town police received a number of letters of complaint from many parents who were followers of the International Church, stating that “Mackenzie forced their children to live in groups, incited them to drop out of school, and did not allow them to be vaccinated against infectious diseases. When the children were sick, instead of taking them to medical facilities, Mackenzie forced them to fast and pray.” According to Malindi police, about 30 children between the ages of 6 and 10 died from measles, smallpox, cholera, and typhoid, but there was not enough evidence to charge Mackenzie. They only asked him to return 93 children to their families.
In 2019, when Mackenzie continued to recruit followers, Malindi police ordered the disbandment of the International Church's gathering place. Investigations showed that a follower of the International Church donated a plot of land on Lamu Island to Mackenzie. The leader then sold it for 20 million shillings. With this money, Mackenzie used it to finance a private TV station, which regularly broadcast his sermons. This move convinced some followers to donate their assets to Mackenzie. It is estimated that by the time of his arrest, Mackenzie had about 500 million shillings in his possession, mostly in land, houses, etc.
Mackenzie was ordered to dissolve the International Church, but instead of carrying it out, he incited followers to protest against the authorities. In September 2019, Mackenzie was arrested for disturbing public order, forcing followers to live in groups, and inciting children to drop out of school. However, during the trial, he received the support of thousands of loyalists, including many lawyers and heads of tribal sects, so Mackenzie was eventually acquitted. Mr. Aisha Jumwa, a member of the Malindi City Council, said: “The leaders of the tribal sects believe that if the International Church is suppressed today, it will be their turn tomorrow. Justice has been mocked.”
Having escaped prison, Mackenzie led more than 1,000 followers into the Shakahola forest, most of them Kenyans, with a few of Tanzanian, Ugandan and Nigerian origin. From then until the mass graves were excavated, almost no one saw them. It was only when some hunters trapping animals in the Shakahola forest encountered some emaciated people, trying to hide when discovered, and especially when the Malindi police received a distress call from a man, stating that his wife and daughter had voluntarily left their home in Nairobi to follow the International Church to Kilifi County and had not returned, that the police began to launch a search.
According to Chief Inspector Martin Munene, when they entered Shakahola Forest, the police found many people in a state of exhaustion, living in huts made of branches, sleeping on rotten leaves. When asked how many people there were, one of them replied: “More than 1,000 but many died”. The same person also showed the police a newly dug and filled-in area: “That’s where Mackanzie buried them”.
How many more victims will there be?
Over the next two weeks, police searched an area of 3.2 square kilometers and discovered six mass graves, containing a total of 133 bodies. The first bodies recovered were mostly children. In another pit, there were five members of a family with three children and their parents, along with 18 people, one of whom showed signs of being buried alive.
A victim rescued by the police said: “Patriarch Mackenzie taught that contact with God can only happen if everyone gathers together to fast. When fasting, no contact with people from the outside world is allowed. All documents such as identity cards, birth certificates, driver’s licenses…., must be burned.”
Faced with irrefutable evidence, on May 7, 2023, Mackenzie and his third wife Rhoda Mumbua Maweu, along with 16 key members of the “International Cult,” were arrested, including Ezekiel Odero, Mackenzie’s deputy leader and right-hand man. On the 13th, eight more members were taken into custody on charges related to terrorism, brainwashing, violence, and murder. And although the “cult leader” Mackenzie’s lawyer offered to post a 100,000 shilling bail for his release, it was rejected by the Kenyan Attorney General.
Commenting on the mass graves, Kithure Kindiki, Kenya’s interior minister, said: “Not all the deaths were due to starvation. Between May 10 and May 18, we discovered several more mass graves in Shakahola Forest, bringing the total death toll to 227, of whom about 100 died of strangulation or severe injuries from beatings. The number of missing is 611 and only 84 have been rescued.”
However, many people who were rescued refused all measures to help them. Dr. Mavuli, Malindi Hospital said: “As soon as she was transferred here, a woman continuously resisted first aid. She bit her mouth, not allowing the medical staff to insert a feeding tube into her stomach. She wanted to starve herself to death…”.
According to a forensic officer who performed autopsies to determine the cause of death, some of the bodies had their internal organs missing, mainly the liver, kidneys, etc. This raises suspicions that Mackenzie was buying and selling human bodies, and that it could have been done even before the victims died. The removed organs would be stored in cold boxes and transported immediately, while the bodies would be thrown into mass graves, as evidenced by the position of the victims: The bodies were not lying in any order.
“Mackenzie’s teachings are completely contrary to true religion,” said Kenyan President William Ruto. “I have appointed a commission to investigate the deaths, along with a task force to review the regulations governing religious institutions to ensure that such tragic incidents never happen again.”
Currently, the police are urgently verifying the whereabouts of the missing people, but according to Victor Kaudo, a human rights activist in Malimdi, "the pace is very slow. It seems that the excavation of mass graves is a priority rather than the search for survivors." As of May 21, only one missing person, Daniel, was found in a bush in Shakahola Forest. Ms. Joyce Makori, 38, Daniel's wife, said: "My husband left home to join the International Church because he was convinced that the world would end in June this year. When the mass graves were discovered, I decided to go find my husband..."
With the help of the police and some locals, Joyce Makori found Daniel, now exhausted from hunger, curled up in a bush, but when the couple met, Daniel still said, “We cannot leave because we will die if we leave this forest. We are not allowed to share information with anyone…”.
“The test results showed that Daniel suffered from severe cognitive disorders, depression and paranoia, caused by the effects of brainwashing that Mackenzie had repeatedly subjected him to over a long period of time while isolated from the world around him,” said Dr. Mavuli, Malindi Hospital. “I believe that apart from Daniel, there may be hundreds of people in the same situation as him…”
Source: https://antg.cand.com.vn/Ho-so-mat/kinh-hoang-giao-hoi-quoc-te-o-kenya-i694877/
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