British troops stationed in Kenya found paying for sex despite ban

British soldiers at a base in Kenya are continuing to pay for sex despite a ban that was intended to stamp out sexual exploitation across the military, an investigation has found.

An inquiry was commissioned by the British Army last year following allegations that some of its troops stationed at a training site near the central Kenyan town of Nanyuki were using sex workers, as well as claims of serious abuses including rape.

In 2022, the UK's defence ministry announced that it was banning "all sexual activity which involves the abuse of power, including buying sex whilst abroad".

However, the report published this week found that soldiers at the British Army Training Unit Kenya (BATUK) were still engaging in transactional sex at a "low to moderate level".

UK Chief of General Staff Roly Walker, who commissioned the inquiry, said there was "absolutely no place for sexual exploitation and abuse by people in the British Army".

"The findings of the inquiry I commissioned conclude that transactional sex is still happening in Kenya at a low to moderate level. It should not be happening at all," he said in a statement.

The army was implementing new measures to stop sexual exploitation and abuse, including making it easier to discharge soldiers who engage in transactional sex and introducing a new obligatory training programme on the issue, Walker said.

A UK-Kenya defence cooperation agreement allows thousands of British soldiers to train in the East African country each year.

The British Army's inquiry focused on a period between October 2022 and March this year, during which time some 7,666 of its personnel served in Kenya.

There were 35 instances where transactional sex was suspected to have taken place.

Of those cases, 26 happened before training on the ban on using sex workers was given across the British Army in November 2022. Nine instances were reported since then.

In June, a British soldier stationed at BATUK was sent back to the UK after being accused of raping a woman near the site, according to media reports. A defence ministry spokesperson confirmed at the time that a "service person" had been arrested in Kenya and was under investigation, but did not provide further details.

There have long been concerns about the way British forces treat local residents in Nanyuki.

The most high-profile case involves the murder of 21-year-old Agnes Wanjiru in 2012. She was last seen alive leaving a bar with British troops near their training camp, with her body later found in a septic tank.

An inquest in 2019 concluded that Wanjiru was murdered by British soldiers but no suspect has been charged. In April this year, Kenyan police said a file had been passed to the country's director of public prosecutions for a charging decision.

This coincided with a visit to the country by UK Defence Secretary John Healey, who met with Wanjiru's family and discussed the case with Kenyan President William Ruto.

In 2021, the then-head of the British Army, General Mark Carleton-Smith, said he was "appalled" by allegations surrounding the murder of Wanjiru.