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Jailed gang leader urges calm
05/05/2008 08:56 - (SA)
Nairobi - The jailed leader of a Kenyan gang blamed for a slew of murders and beheadings has said the gang will "remain calm" as it awaits talks with the government to end a bloody crackdown, a statement said on Monday.
Maina Njenga made the appeal as police intensified a hunt for members of the politically-linked Mungiki sect blamed for a wide range of crimes mainly in Kenya's Rift Valley, the Central provinces and in the capital Nairobi.
"We have remained calm as we wait for talks with the government. This is to avoid giving police and criminals a chance to infiltrate our organisation or kill our members," Njenga said.
Last month, Prime Minister Raila Odinga welcomed Mungiki members for talks after they battled police to protest the killing of Njenga's wife and driver, whose beheaded remains were recovered in central Kenya.
At least 20 people were killed in subsequent clashes.
Maina, serving a five-year jail term for weapons offences, also welcomed a call for his release made by elders from the country's centre.
"I am equally pleased with the Central Kenya Council of Elders who came out boldly supporting the need for justice and my release from jail," he added.
Mungiki, which claims ties to the country's independence freedom fighters, Maumau, says its members have been subjected to political and economic injustices since indepencence from Britain in 1963.
The police have vowed to wipe out the gang, which started as a quasi-religious youth group embracing traditional rituals but morphed into a ruthless gang blamed for criminal activities including extortion and murder.
Mungiki members have been linked with key officials from President Mwai Kibaki's political camp and blamed in several rights reports for some of the ethnic violence that rocked the country after disputed December elections.
Since March last year, dozens of people have been killed by the Mungiki, several of them beheaded. Police responded with a crackdown in which they killed scores of gang members.
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