E/CN.4/2000/9/Add.4 page 6 the “Special Branch”, which was reported to have tortured political opponents held in its offices in Nyayo and Nyati Houses, has for example been disbanded. Similarly, there have been no more reports recently regarding torture of persons from the Western Province accused of support for, or membership of, the alleged opposition guerrilla movement, the February Eighteenth Movement (FEM) or the February Eighteenth Resistance Army (FERA) since the mid-1990s. Excessive force is nevertheless said to have been used on several occasions by the police, reportedly assisted by members of the KANU Youth Wing, on peaceful protestors and participants in opposition political rallies (see annex). It is reported that there is a growing reliance on State-sponsored gangs to break up meetings and rallies of government critics. Both ruling party and opposition parties are said to have created their own civilian security groups. According to NGOs, the majority of victims of torture or other forms of ill-treatment are persons suspected of involvement in murder and robbery with violence. Torture is said to be aimed at obtaining confessions or at punishing. As modern methods of investigation are said to be rarely used, the police reportedly resort to torture in order to obtain information which will allow them to close cases. 16. The Minister of State in charge of Defence informed the Special Rapporteur that the military forces were very rarely employed in the maintenance of law and order, except in the northern part of Kenya, an area particularly affected by banditry and where arms are said to be illegally smuggled into the country. According to NGOs, torture has been carried out by both the military and the police as a form of communal punishment in this part of the country. The residents of whole villages are said to be rounded up and subjected to severe beatings, rape and summary executions (see annex). In case of abuses by the military, the Minister indicated that strict measures were being taken in accordance with the military rules. For example, he informed the Special Rapporteur that the May 1999 incident in Marsabit during which civilians were allegedly ill-treated (see annex) was the object of an investigation. 17. The Special Rapporteur also received information according to which the police round up the poor, women, street children, migrants and refugees in mass arrests. Asylum-seekers, in particular Ethiopian Oromos suspected of being members or supporters of the Oromo Liberation Front, and Somalis were said to be detained beyond the legal limit, ill-treated and threatened with forcible return to countries where they would be at risk of torture and other human rights violations. Street children in urban centres are routinely rounded up and detained. They are allegedly subjected to beatings, sexual abuse and extortion by the police. They are said to be held for days or weeks and when eventually brought to courts to be charged with vagrancy, or are classified as being “in need of protection or discipline”. It is reported that there are over 40,000 street children in Kenya.2 The poor are also reported to be victims of police violence. Police raids on shantytowns are said to be conducted at night, without search warrants. The police allegedly end up beating people, demanding money in exchange for freedom and sexually harassing women. 18. “Mob violence” or “justice” was also reported to be a phenomenon in Kenya and was explained by some officials by a lack of confidence in the police and the administration of justice. A higher number of incidents have been reported in urban centres in the past five years. Non-governmental sources also suggested that the population was reproducing police behaviour. According to the Kenyan Human Rights Commission, more than 130 people died owing to mob