A British soldier has been arrested and questioned in connection with an alleged rape incident near the British Army Training Unit Kenya (BATUK) in Nanyuki, a town located 200km north of Nairobi. The incident reportedly occurred last month after a group of British soldiers visited a local bar.
The UK Ministry of Defence confirmed the arrest, stating, “Unacceptable and criminal behaviour has absolutely no place in our Armed Forces and any reporting of a serious crime by serving personnel is investigated independently from their chain of command.” The investigation is being carried out by UK military police from the Defence Serious Crime Unit.
This incident follows previous allegations of misconduct by British soldiers in Kenya. In 2012, a local woman named Agnes Wanjiru was found dead in a septic tank near the BATUK base, three weeks after she disappeared. Her family has campaigned for years for the suspected perpetrator, a serving British soldier at the time, to be charged. In April, UK Defense Secretary John Healey met with Wanjiru’s relatives in Kenya and vowed to “help the family secure the justice they deserve”.
The British army has faced scrutiny over the conduct of its personnel at the BATUK base, established in 1964. A public inquiry set up by Kenyan MPs last year heard allegations of mistreatment of local people by British soldiers, including a reported hit-and-run incident and claims that some British soldiers had gotten local women pregnant before abandoning them and their children when they returned to the UK.
Such undignified practices coming especially from UK soldiers speaks volumes about the deteriorating level of moral uprightness even amongst men who by training are expected to disciplined and well behaved in the discharge if their duties. It therefore saddens the heart to see these acts of cowardice and inhuman treatments being carried out by those refered to as noble men.