Mathare Violence Update

I just received the full report yesterday from the Fountain of Life America team that was in Nairobi during the recent violence in the Mathare Valley slum. Unfortunately, the killings and destruction also affected Mary, the widow I profiled in a story during our visit a few months ago.

Here is a troubling excerpt from the report:

"We found out on Wednesday that only an hour after we left the Mathare Valley slum Monday evening, two police officers were shot and killed as a violent statement by a tribal gang called the Mungiki. The Mungiki have controlled the Nairobi Matatu transportation system under a reign of terror similar to the way that the Mafia offers neighborhood businesses "protection" for a fee.

The current government is not allowing this practice any longer and the attack is a political statement. In retaliation to the shootings, the police raid the slums looking for Mungiki and 25 people are killed that night. Many more senseless deaths follow including beheadings of police and the drinking of human blood. Of course there are plenty of innocent victims caught in the crossfire, which is really brought home when we learn that Mary who we visited had her home completely destroyed by the police in a raid. She is not Mungiki."

The news out today is not much better as the conflict continues to rage on:

20 Killed in New Kenyan Violence

NAIROBI, Kenya - At least 20 people - including two found beheaded - were killed overnight in Nairobi, and police said Friday they were looking into whether a banned sect that has terrorized the Kenyan capital was involved.

Three bodies, including the two who were beheaded, were found in Banana Hill on the outskirts of Nairobi, where police have been cracking down on the banned Mungiki sect, which is accused of a series of beheadings.

Kiplimo Rugut, the provincial commissioner of Central Province, said Mungiki was suspected in some of the overnight killings. "This is a possibility we are looking at," he told The Associated Press.

The Mungiki was inspired by the 1950s Mau Mau uprising against British rule and claims to have thousands of followers, all drawn from the Kikuyu, Kenya's largest tribe. Sect members pray facing Mount Kenya, which the Kikuyu believe to be the home of their supreme deity.

In recent years, it has been linked with the hallmarks of any criminal gang - murder, political violence, and extortion.