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Kenya

Kenya: Mount Elgon- Confirmation on torture reports

The accusation by local rights groups against the military of beating and torturing civilians arrested during security operations in Mount Elgon, didn't surprise Albinus Muga, director of the Justice and Peace Commission of the diocese of Bugoma, who stated to MISNA: 'We also received reports of grave abuse. I just discussed the matter with a priest of the area and he confirmed numerous cases of people arrested and beaten also in the past days. I met with a representative of the National Human Rights Commission, the only body that can enter prisons and military bases, and he confirmed signs of beatings on the detained'. Based on a report released on Sunday by the Independent Medico-legal Unit (IMLU) and published yesterday on all Kenyan newspapers, the military beat and tortured at least 400 people, and maybe up to 4,000, since the start of the offensive to flush out the Sabaot Land Defence Force (SLDF), an armed group that has been terrorising residents of the area. 'I do not exclude that some of the arrested may be members of the Sabaot militia, but undoubtedly many are innocent people that were unfortunately taken away in the security force round ups', explained Muga, adding that he deemed the IMLU estimates credible. 'The people were terrorised by the Sabaot, responsible for atrocious acts of violence. Now some believe that the army is merely taking revenge. But the point remains that human rights violations are always intolerable and that many innocent people are also getting caught in the middle'. The toll of the military operations remains unknown: 'No one knows exactly how many were killed, wounded and arrested. The army is not releasing information and reporters are not allowed into the areas of the operations', said Muga. According to the local press, at least 800 people formally charged. The districts of Mt. Elgon have been theatre to years of disputes over land distribution that escalated in 2006 with the appearance of the Sabaot that violently forced members of other ethnic groups to abandon land assigned to them by the government. It is estimated that over 500 people were killed and 60,000 forced to flee.[BO]