Rights group backs rape claim against British army

The human rights group, Amnesty International (AI), has said that both the British and Kenyan authorities failed to take effective measures to protect Kenyan women from being raped by British soldiers over a 35-year period. "Both countries' authorities failed to take effective measures to: investigate such claims; bring the alleged perpetrators to justice; ensure adequate reparation for the victims; and prevent further attacks," AI said in a report released on Wednesday. It said there was some corroborative evidence - confirmation from chiefs, or contemporaneous documents - available for over 500 rapes which allegedly occurred around the areas of Dol Dol, Archer's Post and Wamba, in central Kenya. The British Royal Military Police were currently investigating 16 of the alleged 650 cases, AI said in the report, entitled "Decades of Impunity: Serious Allegations of Rape of Kenyan Women by UK Army Personnel". Information was available to suggest that British army officials may have become aware of the allegations as early as 1977, it said, but "according to information available to AI, the UK Ministry of Defence claimed to have first heard of the rape claims in November 2002." "AI is concerned that such systemic failure over a period of two decades may amount to institutional acquiescence in such incidents and may have contributed to the perpetration of more rapes and the emergence of a pattern of grave human rights violations by members of the UK army," said the rights body. [To access the report see www.amnesty.org]