A Kenyan court has ordered the British Army to pay damages for the fire that destroyed more than 4,800 hectares (12,000 acres) of land when the British Army Training Unit in Kenya (BATUK) was conducting a military exercise.
Residents of central Kenya complained on Friday about a lack of compensation for a terrible fire that occurred in 2021 during a British military exercise, just ten days before King Charles III was scheduled to visit.
A Kenyan court has ordered the British Army to pay damages for the fire that destroyed more than 4,800 hectares (12,000 acres) of land when the British Army Training Unit in Kenya (BATUK) was conducting a military exercise.
About 200 kilometers (120 miles) north of Nairobi, the unit is positioned close to the town of Nanyuki.
“Two and a half years later, zero compensation has been given to the people affected,” said lawyer Kelvin Kubai as he read out an “open letter to the British government” on behalf of the victims at a press conference.
The British Army is literally used every trick in the colonial rulebook to try and avoid paying the Kenyan people compensation, according to the letter, which was signed by 7,000 claimants.
They are also demanding money for physical issues like “serious breathing difficulties” and “permanent issues with eyesight” that they claim are a direct result of the fire, such as environmental damage and compensation for lost property.
“Many, many farmers have not been able to grow back the crops and regain the livestock that was lost in this terrible fire,” the letter said.
An intergovernmental liaison commission (IGLC), composed of officials from both nations, is in charge of overseeing compensation for the fire.
The IGLC was criticized by the open letter’s writers for wanting additional evidence of the fire’s damage.
“They wish to insult us further by telling us we have to prove –- again –- the damage that their careless and arrogant soldiers caused,” the letter said.
“The facts remain that the British Army destroyed the environment in Kenya where they are guests and they don’t want to pay us for it,” it added.
- ‘The British must go’
“Justice delayed is justice denied,” the letter said, calling on the British government and King Charles to “stop treating Kenya like a colonial outpost”.
Several hundred demonstrators momentarily blocked traffic after the news briefing with their chants of “we want our money” and “the British must go,” before dispersing.
From October 31 to November 3, King Charles III and his wife Queen Camilla will go to the East African country. This will be their first visit to a Commonwealth nation since the king’s coronation a year ago.
The British monarch will travel to Mombasa and Nairobi, but not to Nanyuki, where the BATUK is located.
The army post supports the neighborhood’s economy, but it has also been linked to a number of local disputes.
Agnes Wanjiru, 21, who was found dead in a septic tank in 2012 after allegedly going out drinking with British soldiers at a hotel in Nanyuki, is the most well-known case.
London has always pledged to work with the Kenyan probe, which has so far yielded no known results that are known to the public.
