Kenyan Muslim cleric charged with inciting chaos

MOMBASA, Kenya – A Kenyan cleric who the U.N. says has urged the killing of U.S. citizens has been charged in court with inciting violent protests that left four people dead last week in Kenya's second-largest city.

Abubaker Shariff Ahmed appeared before the court Monday in the port city of Mombasa after an arrest warrant was issued. He denies the charges.

Violent protests erupted in Mombasa last week following the assassination of hardline Muslim preacher Sheik Aboud Rogo Mohammed, a close friend of Ahmed's.

Both men are under a travel ban and asset freeze by the U.N. Security Council and the United States for supporting the al-Qaida-linked Somali militant group al-Shabab.