A beautiful film on a terrible subject
A Kenyan store owner sits in Nairobi on Jan. 1, 2008, amid the burned out remains of what used to be a second-hand clothes market that was destroyed by looters during a wake of violence that engulfed the country after disputed presidential elections.
Hundreds of men are missing, their bodies dumped on hillsides that are guarded by the military, cut off from grieving widows.
The killings came in the run-up to and during Kenya’s disputed 2007 elections in the Mount Elgon area in the far west of the country.
Civilians were tortured and killed first by a militia with links to a local politician, and then by the army sent in to quell the unrest.
Three years on Human Rights Watch returned to Mount Elgon and produced this beautifully shot and heart-rending film on a dark shard of Kenya’s recent political history, reminding us that without justice there can be no forgiveness and little chance of peace.
More from GlobalPost: Kenya glued to world court proceedings
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