Kenya rights group: bodies of 'disappeared' found | Kenya |
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) - A human rights group said Tuesday it has found a dumping ground for bodies in Mount Elgon, where the army is cracking down on a brutal militia.
The Independent Medico-Legal Unit said human bones and five skulls were found in the foothills around Mount Elgon, an extinct volcano near the border with Uganda.
The Sabaot Land Defense Force, which claims to be fighting over land, had been terrorizing the Mount Elgon area since 2006 before the military intervened in march this year. Human rights group say it is responsible for hundreds of murders, rapes and mutilations.
Earlier this year, the military sealed off the region and strafed the area with helicopter gunships to drive militiamen from forests and caves. But scores of residents have told The Associated Press and human rights groups that the military was using equally brutal tactics in the crackdown, and that civilians were being killed.
The rights group said the site where the remains were found is less than 300 meters (985 feet) from a military camp where Kenyan forces were stationed earlier this year at the height of the crackdown. The site was discovered July 30 but the group refrained from announcing it before seeking a court order that would prevent any interference with the bodies.
Bungoma magistrate Margaret Wambani rejected the order on Tuesday. «Getting a court order would have meant no cover up would take place but now we don't know that these bodies will be there when we go back,» said IMLU attorney Majune Kraido.
The group said relatives identified clothes found near three bodies as belonging to men who were last seen in military custody in mid-April. Those claims could not be independently verified.
Government and military spokesman did not return calls for comment. In the past, they have denied accusations of torture and extrajudicial killings.
