The forest “where serious crimes have been committed will not remain as it was”, Interior Minister Kithure Kindiki announced and stressed that it will be turned into a national memorial, “a place of remembrance so that Kenyans and the world will not forget what happened here”.

The discovery of more than 200 mass graves in Shakahola, a 325-hectare forest inland from the Indian Ocean town of Malindi, has shocked Kenyans after the story behind a sect that called for the sacrifice of hunger as the only way to God.

Currently, sect leader Paul Nthenge Mackenzie and about 35 people arrested are facing several charges in the horrifying case, while some investigations have shown indications of possible human trafficking, after finding bodies without some organs.

While starvation appears to be the main cause of death, some of the victims, including children, were strangled, beaten or suffocated, according to government autopsies.

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