British soldiers in Kenya accused of rape, abandoning children: CNN
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Accusations of British crimes in Kenya, including murder, stretch back to the 1950s.
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Britain's Prince William, center, speaks to soldiers during a visit to the 1st Battalion of the Irish Guards battle group, training under the British Army Training Unit Kenya (BATUK), in his role as Colonel of the Regiment, in Laikipia, Kenya, Sunday, September 30, 2018. (AP)
British troops have been accused of raping hundreds of Kenyan women while training in the East African country over decades, leaving behind dozens of children they fathered.
This is not the first report of British troops committing war crimes across the world. In 2022, a BBC report revealed disturbing evidence of SAS war crimes in Afghanistan as seen in a Panorama documentary.
According to CNN's report on Monday, mixed-race infants are still being born in rural areas in central Kenya, where the British Army Training Unit (BATUK) trains troops approximately 200 kilometers (124 miles) north of Nairobi.
At least 69 of the infants were reportedly born as a consequence of rape perpetrated by UK servicemen. Other children, fathered in consensual partnerships, have had no support or contact from their fathers, who went home after completing their training, CNN said.
“They always say, ‘Why are you here? Just look for connections so that you can go to your own people. You don’t belong here," 17-year-old Marian Pannalossy told CNN.
Accusations of British crimes in Kenya, including murder, stretch back to the 1950s.
In one case, a 21-year-old woman went missing in 2012 after allegedly entering a hotel with British troops. Her corpse was later discovered in a septic tank. The soldier identified as the suspected murderer by other troops has never been tried.
In 2007, the UK Defense Ministry disregarded allegations by 2,187 Kenyan women, stating that there was "no reliable evidence to support any single allegation."
According to CNN, the Royal Military Police investigators decided the Kenyan evidence was manufactured without UK officials conducting DNA tests on any children born to purported victims.
In 2009, several of the villagers told Kenya's Truth, Justice, and Reconciliation Commission that British troops preyed on them as they were about their everyday activities. British troops have been accused of gang-raping nearly 30 women, some at knifepoint.
The commission then reported that the Nairobi administration had misplaced the case files of the alleged victims.
CNN reports that the UK pays Kenya around $400,000 each year to conduct training near the country's Laikipia and Samburu wildlife sanctuaries. A new clause in the agreement permits British soldiers to be sued in Kenyan courts. According to CNN, lawyer Kelvin Kubai is seeking to reopen rape charges involving over 300 women.
"The Kenyan legal system offers a better redress than what is available in the UK," he told CNN. Human rights violations have no statute of limitations under Kenyan law, which could allow decades-old rape victims to be compensated.
Many of the accusers died while waiting for their cases to be heard.
