Campbell Bridges Dead: Mob Kills Famous Geologist In Kenya: Police Report

NAIROBI, Kenya — Assailants armed with arrows, spears and machetes killed a Scottish-born geologist in an apparent dispute over mining rights in southeast Kenya, police said Thursday.

A lawmaker who knew the geologist said Campbell Bridges, 72, had received death threats and Bridges' attackers were incited to kill him.

On Tuesday, about a dozen people attacked Bridges after he stopped to remove a log blocking a road, police said. Bridges had been driving to a mining camp by Tsavo West National Park, near where he lived and made one of his most precious discoveries of gemstones decades ago.

"We suspect those who killed him are probably employees of other people who want to mine in the area," said local Deputy Police Chief John Leshindoro.

Bridges was accompanied by his son, Bruce, and at least two colleagues during the attack. Police said his son was not hurt, but two colleagues were seriously injured.

The attackers "were screaming, 'We're going to kill you all,'" Bruce Bridges told the British Broadcasting Corp. on Thursday.

Bruce Bridges said he and his father had been receiving death threats for three years, but police did nothing to stop it. He accused police of similarly ignoring their reports of illegal digging by bandits, including hours before Tuesday's ambush.

"My father and I had heard these bandits were digging trenches on our land, so we took that information to the police and asked them for extra security," Bruce said.

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"They refused to aid us in any way and basically told us to go it alone. They left us to die," he said. "The family is destroyed – and we are angry. For this country to let what happened happen to him is a tragedy."

A Kenyan lawmaker, Johnstone Muthama, said Bridges told police about three death threats he had received – and had named the people who had issued them.

The local police chief, Herbert Khaemba, told The Associated Press that Bridges had told police once about the threats. He said officers did warn those people to stop threatening the geologist.

Khaemba said he also asked Kenya's Department of Mines and Geology to intervene, because those threatening Bridges were disputing his right to use a mining permit in the area. Bridges had been mining for gemstones in the vicinity of Tsavo since the early 1970s.

Muthama said Bridges' killing may have been motivated by anti-foreigner hysteria whipped up by political leaders.

"This is a problem caused by the leadership, who incite local people (by saying) that this is a foreigner who wants to take resources, so flush these people out," Muthama told The Associated Press.

Muthama, who owns a big gem mining business, said he had known Bridges for 25 years and together they founded the Kenya Chamber of Mines. Muthama is patron of that organization.

In the 1960s, Bridges discovered a rare green variety of garnet initially in modern-day Zimbabwe and later in Kenya's neighbor Tanzania. Today the green gemstone, mined chiefly in Tanzania and Kenya, is named tsavorite after the Tsavo national parks.

Bruce Bridges paid tribute to his father as "an amazing man" and "the world's most famous gemologist."

"Anyone in the industry would say it. No one had a resume like him," he told the BBC.

Southeast Kenya is sparsely populated and impoverished, because its dry, low-lying land is poor for most crops. The area's gemstone riches are mined by handful of companies. Many locals eke out their living on plantations growing sisal, a plant that produces stiff fibers for making rope.

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On the Net:

Kenya Chamber of Mines, http://kenyachambermines.com/

Bridges' tsavorite history, http://www.tsavorite.com/

Comments

[chicagomom12]

Are you kidding me...I had to join this post to comment. Where is the compassion­...serious­ly...I hope that none of the people who made those unfeeling comments ever is in the position Mr. Bridges and his son were. This is about one thing, a brutal crime. Nothing gives someone else the right to take a life. To make light of that shows the ignorance of the people posting...­Typical...­anyone want to be in the same postion or have any one of their loved ones...ple­ase..makes my stomach turn. Ignorant opions from cruel, petty people. This is not about race, social class or mining, it is about the vilest, cruelest part of human nature. Compassion first, then discuss the other variables.

[BlackYowe]

Dangerous business dealing in precious stones in a lawless land.

[arvay]

This is a reply to a posting, mysteriously disappeared, that said that Africans should have killed the first whites who arrived in Africa. Rather than censor "offensive" thoughts, let's discuss. I'm sure some people feel that way. Here are some facts:

The history of African-European relations is mixed, as is the history of many groups that have interacted over time. The first "whites" arrived in very ancient times. Not to mention the fact that their ancestors migrated from Africa, but that's another topic.

Various African kingdoms -- Ethiopia comes first to mind -- had very good relations with various European societies. Romans. Africans, Asians and Europeans have been trading and influencing each other for centuries. Egypt, a multiracial society, profoundly influenced Greek ideas, culture and art. Greek historians speak of Egypt with awe.

Roman colonialism in Europe and North Africa was brutally imposed, but didn't come with the racial mentality that "distinguished" later European colonialism.

And Africans formed parts of armies that invaded Spain, Sicily and Italy -- so some of the aggression has been from Africa, also. So what? looking at these things through that racial prism is a mistake. It's really handing a victory to the likes of Cecil Rhodes and Leopold II.

Of course, it's not going to disappear overnight -- too much damage has been done, but there's nothing about any of the various peoples of the earth that makes them natural enemies.

[AhnAmuru]

Condolences.

It stuck me as odd that his son seemed to describe everyone other than themselves as "bandits".

Very telling!

[PoliSci2008]

Sad and tragic and my condolence to the family.

Kenya and Tanzania are two of the most peaceful nations in Africa. It appears the effects of past colonialism are anti-foreigner commericalization and hysteria.

Then again, the Kenyan nation could be like the US where the Chinesse, Japanesse and Koreans owns major commerical properties in the US, and US could turn into anti-foreigner hysteria.

[myopinion2]

I'm flabbergasted by the comments here, which practically condone his murder because he was a successful entrapreneur. Do you all realize how insipid and degraded that kind of moral reasoning is. He did not cause the poverty, and there is no indication that his activities were nefarious, dishonest or illegal. Such comments are the mirror image of the prejudices of the decadent privileged class.

[fresno500]

YOU had no business there in the first place.

[Aroddo]

So, was Bridges one of those exploiting the region and responsible for the poverty while being filthy rich?

Was the motive behind the killing resentment or just pure greed of other mining barons?

Just asking. Wouldn't be the first cast where dozens of natives were killed by mining companies, thus giving many reasons for a murder.

I really don't know ... anyone?

[ramper]

Bring back the British. This country is disintegrating back to the stone-age.

[SetUFree]

Don't you dare talk about America that way. We may have our problems, but we didn't right the revolutionary war for nothing!

[KoolAidDrinkersAnonymous]

My Priest told me many stories about how they chunked spears at his Parish in Kenya.

[WilliePilgrim]

Very sad story. They are remarkable gems and very much worth their commercial value and aesthetic esteem. The mine itself is a rather small and tidy affair; not the slavish chaos of abused workers and toxic conditions. Unfortunately due to the terrible mismanagement of Africa by those in charge (it's tempting to say europeans but in fact it was very much a collaborative affair which still goes on as foreign aid continues to be gobbled up by the kleptocratic regimes that pass for government in Africa all to frequently.) but due to the mismanagement there is much suffering and the ignorant locals strike at what they see as an inequity even though it's their own government who's really at fault. Between the lack of education and imposed ignorance of both islamic fundamentalism and ideological differences mostly founded on envy of material wealth and security, the poor people of Kenya and so many other countries, feel as if there's nothing else to do.

[Asinistra]

For progressives who think their liberal brethren are above the birther/deather hysteria of the right, all you have to do is read the stupid bile flowing through this thread to know that people on either side of the political spectrum are capable of pulling things out of their asses and expounding on subjects they have no real clue about. No time to deconstruct post by post, so I'll just leave it at this: Campbell Bridges, who--unlike most of the know-it-alls here was quite familiar to me more than 24 hours ago--was a rather benign figure on the world stage--a rockhound actually had no interest in exploiting black men or hoisting expensive baubles on the fingers of rich white women. To see his death at the hands of paid thugs viewed through the prism of colonialism, racism, and anti Americanism is sad and sickening. Bad enough not to show respect for the dead, but not to show respect for a dead man you know so little about is noxious.

[jalex26000]

So lets go over this again. rich white geologist raping the African continent (one of many, Im sure) gets killed by the people he is exploiting and were supposed to feel bad for him? leave the africans alone, let them sell you their resources, stop stealing and I can make a safe bet they wont kill you. more importantly stop supporting the corruption when you visit and things like this wont happen. be a part of the world community stop lording over evrything and every culture, people are sick and tired of it.

[bronceye]

Kenya, white man killed by a mob, hmmmmmmm. Did he do abortions? Mob, white man dead, Kenya. How will this be exploited by rush and saruh?

[PRIDEMAN]

Born Free