07 April 2024 , 10:19
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British soldiers training in Kenya held initiation ceremonies which saw young recruits forced into unprotected sex with prostitutes, it has been reported..
Senior soldiers allegedly tossed a coin to determine whether the squaddie wore a condom, according to a report put together by the Ministry of Defence, for a study which has been published in the British Medical Journal Military Health.. The initiation was supposed to be an exercise to prove how "brave" the young recruits were.
Almost 10,000 British troops are sent to Kenya each year to carry out firing exercises for eight weeks. The claims of the initiation ceremony has alarmed defence chiefs because of the high rates of HIV/Aids in Kenya, where it affects one in 20 people, Mail Online reports.
Once back in the UK soldiers were questioned on the use of prostitutes, who hang around outside the base, for a study which has been published in the British Medical Journal Military Health. One soldier, who is not identified, told the Ministry of Defence: "When this unit deploys on exercise [to the British Army Training Unit Kenya], they have an initiation ceremony for all the new soldiers who haven't deployed to Kenya before. The more senior soldiers would flip a coin – heads you could use a condom, tails you could not."
The report concluded that even though a sexual health guide is issued to soldiers on arrival by the Defence Medical Services, the number of soldiers seeking help for related diseases increased compared with UK-based troops. Five per cent of Kenya's population is HIV-positive compared with 0.2 per cent in the UK. However, the report also that a third of squaddies didn’t even remember the advice given to them.
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The report said catching a sexually transmitted disease from a prostitute had the potential to reduce the operational effectiveness of the unit but also presents a "global reputational risk." Former Army intelligence officer Philip Ingram criticised the military leadership over the incidents. He said: "Sexual health is a part of annual training for all service personnel."
“To hear that soldiers are being forced into some form of sexual initiation ceremony... where HIV rates are very high, shocks me to the core, once again [it] highlights a failure in leadership and that the culture in the Army is still fundamentally broken.”
The report warned of a growing use of prostitutes close to the British base in Nanyuki, Kenya. A Ministry of Defence spokesman said: “All sexual activity which involves the abuse of power, including buying sex whether in the UK or abroad, is prohibited. We are committed to preventing sexual exploitation in any form.”