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Kenya Reportedly to Release Bodies of Shakahola Cult Victims for Burial

Last April, local media reported that four people had starved themselves to death, after pastor Paul Mackenzie, the leader of a Kenyan doomsday hunger cult, had preached they would "meet Jesus" that way. Another 11 cult members were hospitalized. Shortly after, Mackenzie was arrested.
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The Kenyan government has announced that next week it will release some of the corpses of those who died in the Shakahola hunger cult, the media reported on Wednesday.
Last year, 429 bodies were excavated, and so far, 34 of them have reportedly been identified and linked to their families.
According to Johansen Oduor, the chief government pathologist, the government would provide counseling to the relatives of the victims, but it will not offer assistance in transporting the bodies for burial, the report said.
Furthermore, Oduor reportedly stated that between one and two weeks from now, additional exhumations will take place, as 35 more grave sites have been located. These new exhumations may reveal a higher number of deaths.

Linking bodies with their families has turned out to be challenging, according to the pathologist, because "people are not coming up to claim their loved ones," the media revealed.
Sub-Saharan Africa
Self-Proclaimed Pastor Arrested in Zimbabwe for Abusing Minors
Mackenzie and his accomplices are reportedly suspected of terrorism, murder, assisted suicide, kidnapping, extremism, genocide, crimes against humanity, child abuse, fraud, and money laundering.
However, the "pastor" and other suspects pleaded not guilty to 191 counts of murder, according to media reports.
Yet another self-proclaimed pastor, Ishmael Chokurongerwa, was arrested this week in Zimbabwe for criminal activities, including the abuse of minors. Police revealed that Chokurongerwa led a congregation of more than 1,000 members on a farm northwest of the capital, Harare, where the children lived with other members.