Panafrican News Agency
13 November 2000
Nairobi — Eight members of Kenya's outlawed Mungiki religious sect were arrested in Nairobi Sunday on suspicion of taking advantage of an hour-long battle with police to violently rob members of the public, according to press reports Monday.
The arrest is part of a government crackdown on the sect as ordered by President Daniel arap Moi two weeks ago after its members whipped and stripped naked six women in the southern suburbs of the capital city for wearing long trousers.
The Mungiki action elicited condemnation from the public, especially from human rights groups, goading the president into ordering the crackdown.
Mungiki is a self-confessed traditional religious group whose teachings include the practices of snuff-taking and female genital mutilation. Its following is composed of mainly the Kikuyu ethnic community of central Kenya.
In the Sunday incident, several pedestrians were robbed of their personal belongings, while others were stripped naked in the process for wearing "unbecoming" clothes.
Trouble started about 12.30 PM (09.30 GMT) when a contingent of armed police moved in to disrupt a group of Mungiki members who had converged for prayers at a primary school in the sprawling Mathare slum residential area on the eastern outskirts of Nairobi.
But the sect members defied a police order to disperse and a confrontation ensued between the two sides, leaving several people, including policemen, injured in the encounter.
After the whipping and stripping incident a fortnight ago, Police Commissioner Philemon Abong'o acted on the president directive and ordered a police crackdown on Mungiki.
Ibrahim Waruinge, the Mungiki leader, has escaped the police dragnet and is still at large.
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