Mount Elgon armed conflict and violation of women’s rights, 2004-2008

Abstract

This paper attempts an investigation into human rights abuses against women perpetrated during the Mount Elgon land conflict. Drawing upon concepts of feminist analyses of wartime human rights violations, the authors illustrate how Mount Elgon's armed conflict exacted a high toll on women and society between 2004 and 2008. It integrates critical political economy ideas on contemporary armed conflict and reveals that the Sabaot Land Defence Force-led war, which was later countered by the Moor Defence Forces and Kenya's military, subjected women to rape and brutalization, including destabilization, resulting in massive human misery, loss of life, internal displacement, and resource devastation, the majority of which disproportionately harmed women's livelihoods.