Kenya: documenting counter-terrorism related violations 49 Kenya: documenting counter-terrorism related violations Since the 1998 bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi and the subsequent 2002 bombing of a hotel in Mombassa, the government of Kenya has stepped up measures to thwart terrorist attacks. Numerous human rights groups have accused Kenyan authorities of using the rhetoric of fighting terrorism to commit abuses against persons solely because of their ethnic, religious or racial background. One recent example of such abuse occurred in the Mt Elgon area of western Kenya. Since 2005, a guerrilla militia group called the Sabaot Land Defence Force (SLDF) – drawn from the ethnic Sabaot people – has committed numerous atrocities against the people in the area, including rape, murder, torture and theft or destruction of property. In March 2008, the Kenyan military launched Operation Okoa Maisha, an effort to eradicate the SLDF and restore peace to the region. During the operation, police and military personnel sought to arrest SLDF members and recover illegal weapons. However, human rights organisations working in the area observed that instead of flushing out SLDF members, the police and military were conducting a broad campaign of torture and intimidation of civilians. The Independent Medico-Legal Unit (IMLU) – a registered non-governmental organisation that seeks to promote the rights of torture victims and protect Kenyans from state-perpetrated violence – conducted a fact-finding mission to the region to interview and record the testimony of persons who claimed to have been tortured. IMLU also instructed a team of independent medical experts to carry out a subsequent forensic medical examination of these persons, utilising the Istanbul Protocol. In an investigative report1 IMLU provided evidence that the allegations are truthful: the Kenyan military did perpetrate acts of torture against hundreds of civilians rounded up during Operation Okoa Maisha. By Brandy Bauer Senior Communications Officer, IRCT