The police and Mungiki
November 6, 2007KNHRC has a report out suggesting that the police have killed nearly 500 young men in the ‘war’ against Mungiki. (I’ve been unable to find the report online, but the Nation, Standard and AllAfrica have stories.) A disturbingly large number - ‘almost all’, according to the Nation - of the victims appear to have been executed by a single gunshot to the back of the head. The distribution of the bodies around various mortuaries is prima facie evidence of a conspiracy to conceal the deaths. KNHRC will, apparently, soon release its final report. Till then, it looks very like the police have engaged in indiscriminate murder.
(Those wishing to learn about Mungiki might begin with Anderson 2002 (draft here), Kagwanja 2003, and Murunga’s 2006, which is a response to Kagwanja 2003.)
UPDATE (07.xi.07): The preliminary report is now online here.
November 26, 2007 at 1:48 pm
[...] is a politico-religious group and a banned criminal organization in Kenya. The religion is secretive and bears some similarity to mystery religions. The group favours a return to indigenous African traditions and reject of Christianity and [...]
December 11, 2007 at 6:16 pm
I would like to ask you a few questions about your blog. I’m doing a project about bloggers for a new media class.
-Ava, avasjournal@gmail.com