In Kenya, the death toll from a cult that forced its followers to starve in a forest has risen to at least 95. However, the rescue work in the Shakahola forest in the east of the African country, which has been underway since Friday, has killed 39 people found alive.
Cult leader Paul Makenzie Nthenge, who has previously been arrested several times, had called on the followers of his so-called Church of the Good News to starve themselves to “meet Jesus”. According to forensic scientists, most of the dead, buried in shallow mass graves or directly on the forest floor, were children.
Families were forced to starve to death
According to a local NGO, Nthenge had preached that parents should let their children starve first. A surviving youth told AFP the cult leader beat him when he tried to flee the forest. Kenyan authorities announced on Wednesday that 22 people had been arrested.
Kenyan President William Ruto described Nthenge, who turned himself in to police on April 15, as a “terrorist” on Monday. The authorities are criticized for letting the radical preacher do his thing for far too long. Interior Minister Kithure Kindiki had announced “tighter rules for all churches, mosques, temples or synagogues”.
Source: Krone
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