Partially Burned Body of Kenya’s Missing Foreign Minister Found

The partly burned body of Kenyan Foreign Minister Robert J. Ouko was found Friday in a cane field near his home, three days after he disappeared. The government indicated that he had been murdered.

President Daniel Arap Moi said the body of Ouko, 58, was found “in circumstances which at the moment suggest foul play,” four miles from his family farm in Koru, about 125 miles northwest of Nairobi and not far from Lake Victoria.

The president said the body was partially burned and pledged “that anyone who may be associated with this horrible event will most certainly be apprehended.”

Ouko, considered one of the most skilled members of Moi’s Cabinet, vanished Tuesday. His disappearance went unreported until Thursday evening, when the official Kenya News Agency broadcast an appeal from family members urging him to contact them or government officials.

Moi said Ouko’s death was a loss for “the whole nation.” He called him “a brilliant leader, an articulate and courageous spokesman of this country and a loyal servant of the people.”

Ouko appeared largely above the fray of Kenyan politics, his name rarely appearing in almost daily press accounts of rivalries within the country’s single ruling party.

Ouko, who was foreign minister from 1979 to 1983 and returned to the post two years ago, was described by diplomats as a quiet, reserved man who was intensely loyal to Moi and steered clear of political controversy.

Officials declined to comment on possible motives for his death and diplomats expressed shock.