Kenyan army accused of abuse in Africa's 'forgotten conflict'

An offensive against rebels in the remote Mount Elgon region that began in March had been accompanied by a steep rise in violence against civilians already traumatised by months of fighting, according to Medecins Sans Frontieres.

'In particular, indiscriminate violence is being used against local men, including systematic torture and extra-judicial killings, which has reinforced their fear and terror,' it said in a report.

'MSF's medical teams in Mount Elgon have witnessed and treated the injuries,' it added.

Displaced: Kenyan families sit huddled under a tree near a camp set up for refugees in the western Kenyan town of Narok

Local activists have also accused soldiers of torturing thousands of people as they hunt the illegal Sabaot Defence Land Force in caves, forests and hamlets across the long-troubled area bordering Uganda.

The security forces have denied any wrongdoing. Last week, the defence minister and top military officials met a parliamentary committee to deny the allegations in private.

The violence predates the turmoil that followed December's disputed election, but shares many of its root causes -- land disputes, ethnic rivalries and the neglect of outlying areas.

About 600 people have died and 60,000 have been displaced since the SDLF took up arms in mid-2006 to fight for territory it says was stolen from the local Soy community.

During operations, MSF said, the army sealed off whole villages before taking men to screening camps, where many reported being humiliated and tortured.

Leadership: Kenya's President Mwai Kibaki, left, shares a light moment with Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka, centre, and Prime Minister Raila Odinga

'Most men tell how they were sexually abused and how they now fear infertility,' the report said.

Women reported being gang-raped by soldiers.

But locals also accused the SDLF - locally dubbed the Janjaweed after Darfur's rebels - of widespread abuses.

One woman told MSF the militiamen began demanding taxes and extracting 'fines' from her village in April 2006.

'Gradually they were more brutal. They took five or more people a day and killed them in the mountains, even young children,' she said.

'If they saw a man drunk in the street, that meant the man had money so he had to pay an immediate fine. If you didn't have the money, your ear was chopped off. If you resisted, it was your neck.'

When her brother-in-law fought back, he was decapitated and his body dumped in a pit latrine, she said.

'Both Kenyan authorities and the international community remain in denial or have chosen to ignore the crisis,' MSF said.

'The sole response given by the Kenyan authorities up to now has been more violence.'