'End impunity': BATUK victims oppose Kenya-UK defence deal renewal

BATUK victims marched along Harambee Avenue on August 12, 2026 to hand over their petition to Parliament. [Kanyiri Wahito, Standard]

Victims of British Army Training Unit Kenya (BATUK) operations have asked Parliament to halt renewal of the Kenya-UK Defence Cooperation Agreement until outstanding cases of alleged misconduct are addressed.

The victims, including survivors, bereaved families, workers and residents from communities affected by BATUK operations, want the National Assembly to enforce recommendations contained in a November 2025 parliamentary report before approving a new agreement.

“Your petitioners aver that it would be a grave disservice to the victims named in that report and to the people of Kenya for the agreement to be signed before the matters it raises are resolved,” they said.

The petitioners said the report by the National Assembly’s Departmental Committee on Defence, Intelligence and Foreign Relations documented allegations of rape and sexual assault, deaths and injuries linked to unexploded ordnance and environmental damage.

They also raised concerns about children allegedly fathered by British soldiers and abandoned without support or recognition.

“That hundreds of children have been fathered by British soldiers and then abandoned, children who carry no name, no support, no recognition, who grow up bearing the whispers of the very villages that welcomed their fathers,” they said.

The victims also cited burned grazing fields, unexploded ordnance and environmental damage in areas where BATUK operates.

They want Parliament to push for justice and compensation for victims, recognition and support for abandoned children, rehabilitation of affected land and protection of Kenyan workers employed by BATUK.

“We pray that the National Assembly will end impunity, secure justice for past offences, secure full compensation, secure recognition of the abandoned children, secure the healing of the land, secure protection for Kenyan workers employed by BATUK, halt the Defence Cooperation Agreement until the report is implemented and compel BATUK to answer,” they said.

Foreign and Diaspora Affairs Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi has confirmed that the new Kenya-UK Defence Cooperation Agreement is before Parliament.

Mudavadi said the National Assembly’s Departmental Committee on Defence, Intelligence and Foreign Relations is considering the agreement before it proceeds for approval.

The petitioners want Parliament to ensure the agreement is not signed, renewed or ratified until all findings and recommendations in the November 2025 report have been implemented and independently verified.

They also want Parliament to subject the agreement to public scrutiny and allow Kenyans and their elected representatives to have a role in determining the terms of any foreign military presence in Kenya.

The victims said they had previously raised their concerns with government agencies during the parliamentary inquiry that produced the November 2025 report.

They said BATUK, the UK government and relevant Kenyan agencies had not provided a satisfactory response, remedy or reforms.

“This matter has previously been raised before the relevant bodies, including through the inquiry and report of the National Assembly’s Departmental Committee on Defence, Intelligence and Foreign Relations of November 2025, and through public calls for BATUK and the Government of the United Kingdom to appear before Parliament and account for the conduct set out above,” they said.

The petitioners warned that approving the defence agreement before resolving the outstanding issues would deny victims justice and weaken Parliament’s oversight of foreign military operations.

They urged Parliament to use its oversight powers to compel BATUK and the relevant governments to address the allegations and implement the recommendations before concluding a new defence agreement.