NAIROBI, January 22, 2009: It’s being reported by Fox News that at least five bodies were recently found hacked up in a Nairobi shantytown. These are the latest victims of a series of ritual killings that have rocked Kenya since the Presidential election in December, 2007.
It’s reported that the corpses all had similar cuts on their backs and at least one of the victims was missing both hands. Two women had their breasts cut off and the remaining victims, all male, had their genitals removed.
Riots broke out in the Mukuru kwa Njenga neighborhood which is notorious for lawlessness. The bodies were found soon after. Residents of the large slum marched to the local police station to protest the areas insecurity, an area where murders routinely go unpunished.
Rumors mounted that a suspect, who was said to be in police custody, had been seen licking blood from one of the corpses. Rioters demanded that the police turn the suspect over to them so they could avenge the killings.
This is part of a much larger pattern that has fed public anxiety in many of Kenya’s urban slums for the past year. During this time Kikuyu tribesman have beheaded dozens of people in ritual murders, swearing blood –oaths to each other.
Last August, a man in Naivasha admitted to raping two women repeatedly and draining one of so much blood – which he said he drank – that she died. Following this a Pentecostal bishop was arrested after the man told police he had supplied the clergyman with vials of blood.
The bishop was subsequently exonerated, but not before his church was almost razed by a mob.
On the morning of the recent riot, residents heckled police and threw stones. Riot police had to be dispatched to remove the bodies. Among the rioters was Ferdinand Waititu who is the member of parliament for the area, who said, “These police officers are the ones who are causing all the insecurity here, and we will remove all of them.”
Ritual killings have a long history in Kenya. Government employees themselves were among those frequently accused of mutilation and vampirism during the colonial era.
This is the same area and these are some of the people that SWI teammates worked amongst while ministering in the region in January 2008. One Kenyan tribe pitted against another. One murder leading to another as retaliation killing is part of the tribal code. This leaves blood in the streets and trauma in the lives of family members who remain.
Please join us in prayer that God will reach His mighty hand down from the heavens and calm the anger in the people of Kenya. While many of them claim to be Christians, their behavior speaks of ones who are not saved. Join us in prayer that Christ will become so real to these people, that they will turn away from the violence and put the long-standing anger to rest, in Christ’s name. And pray that the damage inflicted on remaining family members will be lifted by the mighty hand of God through His omnipotent provision. AMEN
