"Activists File Lawsuit Alleging Killings, Assaults at Del Monte Farm in Kenya"

A rights group and community activists filed a lawsuit Saturday against U.S. multinational food giant Del Monte over accusations of killings and assaults at its vast pineapple plantation near Nairobi. The case, lodged at the High Court of Kenya, is also on behalf of people who say they had been attacked by Del Monte security guards, and relatives of alleged victims.

The company, which employs 6,000 people in Kenya and has faced accusations of abuse and violence in the past, could not be immediately contacted for comment. In the most recent incident, Kenyan police are investigating the suspicious deaths this month of four men accused of trying to steal pineapples from the Del Monte farm near Thika, northeast of the capital Nairobi.

Saturday's lawsuit, a copy of which was seen by AFP, said Del Monte has been locked in a land ownership row with the local community, which claims the company's land as its ancestral home....

In addition, it said wastewater from Del Monte operations was laced with "toxic pesticides" deemed hazardous by the World Health Organization. Several petitioners claimed they had suffered various injuries at the hands of guards in separate incidents over the past few years. One said he had been run over, while another claimed he had been sexually harassed then attacked with stones as he ran away.