News & Observer | newsobserver.com | 1 dead in Kenyan gang protest

Published: Apr 14, 2008 01:46 AM
Modified: Apr 14, 2008 01:55 AM

1 dead in Kenyan gang protest

Story Tools

Advertisements
NAIROBI, Kenya - At least one person has died during demonstrations by a Kenyan gang over the killing of their imprisoned leader's wife, police said Monday.

Police chief Gideon Amalla said one person had been shot dead in Thika, 25 miles northeast of the capital of Nairobi. Members of the gang held protests in several cities across the country.

Earlier in the day the gang had blocked the main east-west road running through the country but was quickly cleared, said police officer Willy Lugusa.

Within the capital, gang members manned roadblocks of burning tires and pulled people out of vehicles. Local resident Cliff Owino said vehicles in the slum of Mathare were being stoned and gunshots were heard.

Several burned-out, smoldering cars were blocking roads and about a dozen riot police with shields and masks were patrolling a main roundabout littered with broken glass and the blackened shell of a minibus.

"This now is all because of the Mungiki," said Peter Nyaga, who works at a milling factory. "They are everywhere here."

In another part of the city, around 200 members of the banned Mungiki gang armed with machetes and sticks blocked off a road and marched with a banner demanding the release of their leader from prison. Police fired tear gas at them but failed to disperse them.

The Kenya National Youth Alliance, the political wing of the gang, released a statement accusing police of last week's killings of their imprisoned leader's wife and their acting leader's brother.

"On the atrocious murders of the loved ones at the hands of the ruthless police force, the government in its impunity has continued committing extra-judicial killings and is responsible for these two murders. They should stop trying to pass the buck as they are all connected with the killings that have been going on since 2006," the statement read.

Police were not immediately available for comment, but vigorously denied a report last year by the state-funded Kenya National Commission on Human Rights linking them to over 450 execution-style of young Kikuyu men within a few months.

The Mungiki, a quasi-religious sect linked to a string of beheadings, promote the culture of the Kikuyu, Kenya's largest tribe. Gang members say they were also approached by politicians to act as an ethnic militia during the violence following Dec. 27's disputed elections in which over 1,000 people died.

On Sunday, President Mwai Kibaki implemented a power-sharing deal aimed at resolving the political crisis that set off that unrest. He made opposition leader Raila Odinga prime minister and appointed several members of Odinga's party to his Cabinet.

Associated Press Writer Elizabeth Kennedy contributed to this report.

Print Ads View all ads from past 7 days »

Hosting Partners of
newsobserver.com

Member of the
Real Cities Network

A subsidiary of The McClatchy Company