On Friday the chief of the army defended the military aganist accussions for using torture during interrogation in the on-going operation in Mt. Elgon to flush out members of the Saboat Land Defense Force.
The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights has accused the army for sanctioning the use of torture and other cruel techniques in the wake of an operation in the Mt Elgon area, saying that the military should be held accountable for buse of suspects.
In his most extensive public comments about how the military conducted its operation in Mt. Elgon, and the subsequent arrests of suspects that followed, General Kianga insisted that the military acted proffesionally and as a result many suspects have surrendered volunterily without being subjected to questioning. He maintained that the army acts in complaince with both Kenyan law and its international treaty obligations as expected world-wide.
He challenged the Kenya National Commision on Human Rights to provide conviencing evidence of torture by the army.
However, the army chief acknowledged that the military will act appropriately where there is evidence aganist rougued officers who acted contrary to the law. He maintained that the military will act on case by case after serious investigations in to the alleged cases of torture before taking any appropriate action.
He confirmed that the military high command’s top priority at the time of the operation is to prevent civilian casualties and ensuring that the troops observe fine legal points within the rules of engagement.
"The KNCHR should provide us with evidence and we will investigate, whatever they allege as being torture was legal in the face of not just the operation in Mt. Elgon, but the standard practise of military operations world-wide,we are in a situation where we are dealing with an armed and brutal militant group that has accounted for hundreds of innocent lives," Kianga said. "But even in this circumstance, the military is clear that we were going to live up to our legal obligations and uphold the rule of law".
Another organization- the Independent Medico Legal Unit has cited various forms of violations including the use of harsh interogation techniques that some believe to have amounted to torture, cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment pointing out on various legal restrictions on the treatment of suspects by the military in Mt. Elgon.
In a report released by the human rights lobby dubbed: Operation Okoa Maisha’ at least over 400 people were allegedly torture by military.
According to another report by the KNCHR, the exercise has turned out to be a human rights disaster for the residents who have accused the military of arbitrary arrests and torutre. KNCHR alleges that a systematic pattern of abuse and impunity has evolved since the beginning of March, when the military was deployed to flush out suspected members of the outlawed Sabaot Land Defence Force.
There has been a long debate in Kenyan legal reform policy about the use of torture by law enforcement agaents since Kenya ratified the United Nation Convention Aganist Torture (UNCAT) outlawing the use of torture by law enforcement officials during interrogations.
However there are no specific interogation techniques approved by the Law for questioning suspects in Kenya, attempts to introduce an anti-terrorism legislation commonly know as the Supression of Terrorism Act have not been fruitful after human rights groups rejected the proposed bill citing numerious flaws.
The proposed bill has elicted debate over the powers confered to the police to indefinately detain suspects and use interrogation techniques that would violate the rights of the suspects.
"Protection aganist any form of torture have evolved in the context of democracy, and the constant debate on the doctrine to protect citizens aganist human rights abuses by state agents as provided by the law.
At the same time, senior security officials have maintained that security has largely been compromised due to the limitation by the law to extract evidence from criminal suspects making it difficult to conduct interrogations within the existing rules.
