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Locals gather to see bodies of suspected MRC members in a police truck on March 28, 2013/XINHUA

Kenya

Police nab 8 MRC suspects in Kwale

Locals gather to see bodies of suspected MRC members in a police truck on March 28, 2013/XINHUA

Locals gather to see bodies of suspected MRC members in a police truck on March 28, 2013/XINHUA

NAIROBI, Kenya Sep 20 – Police in Mombasa on Friday arrested eight suspected members of the Mombasa Republican Council (MRC) who were undergoing recruitment at a house in Lunga Lunga, Msambweni.

The eight were found with a recruitment list, membership registers and a manifesto in their possession.

Msambweni police chief Jack Ekakuro said he expected the eight to face charges in court on Friday.

Ekakuro explained that security agencies had been on a high alert following reports of ongoing recruitment of MRC members in the Coast region.

MRC secretary Randu Nzai explained that they were willing to drop their secession call and dialogue with the State saying, “We want the government to hasten talks between us so that there can be a peace. We are not interested in bloodshed but instead we only want to be heard as there are laws that both parties should abide by.”

The group’s top leadership last week said it was ready to meet the President Uhuru Kenyatta.

Kenyatta announced that he was ready to meet them on condition that they denounce violence and the group’s top leadership welcomed the idea.

They lauded Kenyatta and his deputy for issuing 60,000 title deeds across the six counties in Mombasa and said: “The son of Ngina, has proved that he is out to do things differently. The title deeds come at the time when residents had almost given up.”

MRC has been linked to several incidences including the killing of security officers on the eve of the March 4 General Election.

The MRC in 2012 threatened to bar national exams from taking place at the Coast region pointing out marginalization by the government as the cause for their miserable living conditions.

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In 2008 using the slogan Pwani Si Kenya (“The Coast is not part of Kenya”) the MRC began campaigning for the secession of Mombasa from Kenya for it to become an independent State.

They argued that the split would liberate the people of the Coast from marginalization by the successive governments in Kenya.

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