Kenya MPs denounced 'disturbing sexual misconduct' at UK army base

NAIROBI, KENYA - A Kenyan parliamentary inquiry has denounced a "disturbing trend of sexual misconduct" at a British Army base in the east African country "marked by rape, assault, and abandonment of children fathered by soldiers".

Since Kenya's independence in 1963, the former colonial power has maintained the British Army Training Unit Kenya (BATUK) on the outskirts of Nanyuki, about 200 kilometres (130 miles) north of the capital Nairobi.

The inquiry by the Kenyan parliament's Defence Committee said there was little accountability for decades of sexual assaults by personnel from the base.

"Survivors of sexual violence reported cases being dropped or mishandled by local authorities, with many victims denied access to justice," the lawmakers said, stating that their findings were based on numerous testimonies and more than a year of investigations.

The document, dated November 25, was made public on Tuesday, a few weeks after the arrest and detention in Britain of Robert James Purkiss, a 38-year-old soldier accused of the 2012 murder of Kenyan Agnes Wanjiru a case that had long been a source of diplomatic tension between London and Nairobi.

Wanjiru was a 21-year-old mother when she was found dead in a septic tank at a hotel in Nanyuki.

Purkiss's lawyer has said the former soldier "vehemently denies" the murder.

The Kenyan inquiry also found "consistent patterns of gross negligence by BATUK in the handling of unexploded ordnances, leading to multiple civilian injuries and fatalities."

And it denounced significant environmental damage including "illegal dumping of military waste and toxic materials".

"As a result, BATUK is increasingly seen as an occupying presence rather than a development partner, with affected residents drawing parallels to colonial injustices," the report concluded.

In 2003, Amnesty International claimed to have documented 650 rape allegations against British soldiers in Kenya between 1965 and 2001, denouncing "decades of impunity."