British soldier accused of rape arrested in Kenya

NAIROBI - A British soldier in Kenya has been arrested on rape allegations, the UK defence ministry said Sunday, confirming a BBC report.

"We can confirm the arrest of a service person in Kenya," a ministry spokesperson told AFP, adding that no further comment would be made while the matter was being investigated.

The BBC reported that the alleged rape happened last month in Nanyuki, a town north of Nairobi close to where a large British base is located.

According to the BBC report, the soldier who has been arrested went to a Nanyuki bar with fellow soldiers before the alleged rape happened.

The base -- British Army Training Unit Kenya (BATUK) -- has been the focus of several controversies in Kenya in the past, notably the 2012 murder of a young Kenyan woman.

In that case, the woman was last seen alive in the company of a British soldier. Her body was found in a septic tank.

There were no arrests, but in 2021 Kenyan police reopened their investigation after Britain's Sunday Times newspaper reported that several soldiers had heard one of their colleagues speak the same night about killing the woman.

In 2003, the rights group Amnesty International said it had counted 650 rape accusations against British soldiers in Kenya between 1965 and 2001.

Kenya, a former British colony, became independent in 1963.

BATUK, on its website, says it is the biggest British Army contingent in Africa. It says it conducts training with Kenya's military, and a "peace support team" also deploys from there across Africa.

Under an agreement with Kenya, the British army has primary jurisdiction over the latest case alleging rape.