The death toll from a religious sect in Kenya that believes in "entering heaven by abstaining from food" has risen to 89. While the authorities estimate that the death toll is likely to rise with the continuation of the search for the missing members of the sect.
Kenyan Interior Minister Keithor Kindiki said that the death toll among members of a religious sect who "believed they would go to heaven if they stopped eating" had risen to 89.
The death toll has risen steadily in the past few days as authorities exhumed bodies from mass graves found in the 800-acre area of Chakahola Forest in eastern Kenya where a church calling itself Good News International is based.
Most of the bodies were exhumed from graves dug a little deeper than the surface of the earth, while a few members of the sect were found alive and emaciated, but they died at a later time.
Kennedy Key told reporters at the scene that three more people were rescued alive, bringing the number of survivors found so far to 34.
"We pray to the Lord to help them overcome the trauma and recover and tell the story of how a Kenyan, once upon a time, a fellow human being, decided to hurt many, heartlessly, in the name of the holy books," he added.
The death toll is likely to rise further. The Kenya Red Cross said that an office it had set up at a local hospital to search for missing persons and provide advice had received reports of more than 200 people missing.
The sect's leader, Paul Mackenzie, was arrested on 14 April following a tip-off, and 14 other sect members were detained.
Kenyan media reported that Mackenzie was refusing food and water.
Sudan The exchange of accusations between the two parties to the conflict of violating the armistice, and a new toll of victims
On the first day of a new 72-hour truce mediated by Saudi Arabia and the United States, the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces exchanged accusations of violating it, while the death toll rose to 460 dead and 4 thousand and 63 injured in 11 states since the start of the clashes between the two parties.
On Tuesday, the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces exchanged accusations of violating the humanitarian truce agreed upon between the two parties for a period of 72 hours.
Earlier on Tuesday, a 72-hour truce entered into force between the two parties, mediated by Saudi Arabia and the United States, with the aim of "opening humanitarian corridors, facilitating the movement of citizens and residents, enabling them to fulfill their needs, access hospitals and safe areas, and evacuate diplomatic missions."
The Sudanese army said that "despite the validity of the armistice agreed upon by the armed forces, we have monitored many breaches of the rebel militia (Rapid Support) since the early hours of this morning."
The army pointed out, "the continuation of the military movements of the rebels inside and outside the capital, and their attempt to occupy sites and restrict the movements of citizens, and an intense movement by groups to control the Al-Jili refinery north of Khartoum."
The statement spoke of "monitoring the movements of military convoys towards the capital, heading from western Sudan, to carry out large-scale military operations in Khartoum (center)."
The army stressed that "despite its commitment to the armistice, it reserves its full right to deal with these serious breaches and the rebel militia's attempts to exploit them to save their deteriorating operational position," as the statement put it.
For its part, the "Rapid Support" said in a statement, on Tuesday, that "the leadership of the armed forces is still, and behind it the brigades of the defunct regime (President Omar al-Bashir's regime), practicing its continuous violations of the declared armistice."
The "Rapid Support" accused the Sudanese army of "attacking the RSF headquarters in the Republican Palace in Khartoum with cannons, an act that contradicts the terms of the humanitarian truce that was allocated to open safe passages."
The statement spoke of "indiscriminate artillery shelling that endangers the lives of citizens and residents of brotherly and friendly countries and impedes the implementation of the armistice."
In addition, the Sudanese Ministry of Health announced that 460 dead and 4 thousand and 63 injuries had been recorded in 11 states since the start of the clashes between the two parties.
This came in conjunction with warnings issued by the World Health Organization, on Tuesday, of a "major biological danger" following the storming and control of a public health laboratory in Khartoum by one of the conflicting parties in Sudan.
The representative of the organization in Sudan, Nima Saeed Abed, said that combatant elements took control of a central public laboratory in the capital, Khartoum, that kept samples of diseases, including measles and polio, which caused a "very dangerous" situation.
Abed told reporters in Geneva via video link from Sudan that there is a "major biological threat linked to the control of the central public health laboratory by one of the conflicting parties."
Since April 15, large-scale clashes have continued in a number of Sudanese states between the army, led by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the Rapid Support Forces, led by Muhammad Hamdan Dagalo, "Hamidti", which have claimed hundreds of lives, mostly civilians.
In 2013, the "Quick Support" was formed to support government forces in their fight against the rebel movements in the Darfur region (west), and then assumed tasks, including combating irregular migration and maintaining security, before the army described it as "rebel" after the outbreak of clashes.
UN expects hundreds of thousands to flee across the border as a result of the Sudan clashes
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has expressed its fear that the battles in Sudan between the army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) will force up to 270,000 people to flee to Chad and South Sudan, in addition to neighboring countries.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is making plans to take in the hundreds of thousands of people who have poured across Sudan's borders to escape violence, officials said on Tuesday, many of whom had been forced to return to countries they had fled in the past.
UNHCR officials told a news conference in Geneva that they were preparing for 270,000 people to flee across Sudan's borders, an expected preliminary figure that includes Sudanese refugees crossing into South Sudan and Chad as well as the return of those who had been displaced from South Sudan to their homes.
So far, this estimate covers only two of the seven countries neighboring Sudan, as estimates of the expected number of people displaced to Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, the Central African Republic and Libya have not yet been completed.
Sudan hosts over a million refugees, many of whom have fled conflicts in neighboring countries such as South Sudan. In addition, UN data indicates that internal displacement in Sudan has included another 3.7 million.
Marie-Helene Verney, representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in South Sudan, said that the UNHCR plans to receive 125,000 returnees to their homes, who are temporarily residing in Sudan, and to cross about 45,000 new Sudanese refugees into South Sudan.
She added, "We know that returns will take place first, most of them from Khartoum. It is likely that the influx of refugees will be after that." South Sudanese officials say that 10,000 refugees have already arrived in South Sudan over the past few days.
UNHCR said it expected many to return to parts of South Sudan "highly vulnerable as a result of conflict, climate change or food insecurity, or a combination of the three".
UNHCR's representative in Chad, Laura Lo Castro, who visited the border area last week, said the agency plans to receive 100,000 refugees from Sudan at worst, adding that about 20,000 have already arrived.
"It really is a race against time because people are really in dire need of (aid)," she said via video link from N'Djamena.
The UNHCR stated that it has reports of some displaced people starting to arrive in Egypt, but there are no accurate numbers yet.
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