Kenya’s Defense Minister Grilled Over Human Rights Abuses By the Military

The Kenyan minister of Defense, Yusuf Hadji was on Friday summoned and subsequently quizzed by the Parliamentary Defense Committee on allegations that the Kenyan army was involved in torture and human rights abuses of local residents in an ongoing joint military operation in Mount Elgon along the Kenya-Uganda border to flush out a rag-tag militia calling itself the Sabaot Land Defense Force(SLDF)

Confirming this development to the press in Nairobi, the head of the committee, Aden Kenan said that they were prompted to summon the minister following allegations that the soldiers were allegedly torturing residents in the military operation in a bid to extract information from local residents on the whereabouts of the members of the militia.

Since the start of the operations, dozens of local residents have come out in public claiming to have been tortured by the military.

Kenan said that they have also received information that the soldiers were allegedly raping women in the area, adding that the move to summon the minister came after a series of meetings with officials of the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR).

The KNCHR last month released chilling report that accused the army of involvement in human rights abuses in the area. While in a similar report released by the United States based- Human Rights Watch (HRW) two months ago, they also accused the Kenya military of gross violations of human rights by torturing local residents.

Kenan said that his committee will soon travel to the Mount Elgon area on a fact finding commission.

The taking up of arms by SLDF in 2006 over land grievances has led to the deaths of over 500 people and the displacement of over 300,000 families, official records from the Kenya Red Cross indicate.

The military last month managed to kill Wycliffe Matakwei, who was believed to have been the commander of the militia.

Source African Press Agency

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