By Daniel Wallis
NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenyan troops are killing and torturingcivilians in a remote conflict against rebels that has worsenedsharply this year but barely been noticed by the outside world,a medical charity said on Tuesday.
Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said an offensive against anelusive militia in the Mount Elgon region that began in Marchhad caused a steep rise in violence against civilians alreadytraumatised by months of fighting.
"In particular, indiscriminate violence is being usedagainst local men, including systematic torture andextra-judicial killings, which has reinforced their fear andterror," it said in a report.
"MSF's medical teams in Mount Elgon have witnessed andtreated the injuries."
Local activists have also accused soldiers of torturingthousands of people as they hunt the illegal Sabaot DefenceLand Force (SDLF) in caves, forests and hamlets across thelong-troubled area bordering Uganda.
Authorities have repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.
"The truth of the matter is that the security forces havedone a very good job bringing peace to the area," WesternPolice Commissioner Abdul Mwasserah told Reuters on Tuesday.
"We have 36,000 people who have been able to return home,and we asked them to identify anyone who was tortured or raped,and they could not. If it had happened, the public would say."
The violence predates the turmoil that followed December'sdisputed election, but shares many of its root causes -- landdisputes, ethnic rivalries and the neglect of outlying areas.
CAUGHT IN THE MIDDLE
About 600 people have died and 60,000 more been displacedsince the SDLF took up arms in mid-2006 to fight for territoryit says was stolen from the local Soy community.
Locals also accused the SDLF -- locally called theJanjaweed after feared militia in Sudan's Darfur region -- ofwidespread abuses.
One woman told MSF the militiamen began demanding taxes andextracting "fines" from her village in April 2006. "Graduallythey were more brutal. They took five or more people a day andkilled them in the mountains, even young children," she said.
"If they saw a man drunk in the street, that meant the manhad money so he had to pay an immediate fine. If you didn'thave the money, your ear was chopped off. If you resisted, itwas your neck."
When her brother-in-law fought back, she said, he wasdecapitated and his body dumped in a pit latrine.
MSF also called for the International Committee of the RedCross to be allowed access to military detention centres.
During operations, MSF said, the army sealed off wholevillages before taking men to screening camps, where manyreported being humiliated and tortured.
"Most men tell how their testicles were pulled or beaten,and how they now fear infertility," the report said. "In someplaces, up to 50 percent say they can no longer haveerections."
Women reported being gang-raped by soldiers.
"Both Kenyan authorities and the international communityremain in denial or have chosen to ignore the crisis," MSFsaid. "The sole response given by the Kenyan authorities up tonow has been more violence."
(Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)
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