Women in Kenya have accused British Army soldiers of “raping women” and abandoning their children.
Hundreds of women have made accusations aimed at those serving or training over the years, with their mixed race children growing up without ever knowing their father’s identities. An Amnesty International report from July 2023 showed around 650 allegations of rape have been made against British Army soldiers covering a period between 1965 and 2001.
The report suggests women who made the allegations suffered serious physical injuries and long-lasting psychological trauma as a result of being attacked. Some women reportedly miscarried immediately after being attacked, it added.
Marian Pannalossy, a 17-year-old from Archer’s Post, around 200 miles from Nairobi, says she is ostracised for her light skin colour. Her mother, Lydia Juma, is among those to have claimed to have been raped. Marian told CNN : “They call me ‘mzungu maskini,’ or a poor white girl. They always say ‘Why are you here? Just look for connections so that you can go to your own people.
Lydia Juma says she was attacked by a British Army soldier (CNN)“‘You don’t belong here. You’re not supposed to be here suffering.’”
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Her mother previously said in 2011 documentary The Rape of the Samburu Women her then partner left her when he discovered her baby - little Marian - was mixed-race. She said in the programme: “I don’t know why God is punishing me. I don’t understand. The moment he saw the child is ‘white,’ he went, and he went forever.”
According to the British Army, BATUK is a permanent training support unit based mainly in Nanyuki, 200 km north of Nairobi. It is made up of 100 permanent staff and reinforcing short tour cohort of another 280 personnel. Under an agreement with the Kenyan Government, up to six infantry battalions per year carry out eight-week exercises in Kenya.
Lawyers have since set up a crowdfunding campaign to support the “abandoned children of British Army soldiers”. It reads: “One lesser-reported issue arising out of the BATUK camp is the abandonment of children born to Kenyan women from the British soldiers. These children stand out in the local community as they are clearly mixed race. Tragically, not all of these relationships were consensual. In all of the cases, even the consensual ones, after the soldier’s deployment was over, the soldiers left and were never heard from again.
This fundraiser is to help pay for basic living costs for these children including school fees, rent and sustenance. Eventually, these children would like to find their fathers and if there is enough money left over after the basic living costs have been covered, this fundraiser will go towards covering legal fees to help find their biological fathers.”
A British High Commission spokesperson told CNN: “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 and investigate and hold to account any Service Personnel found to be involved in it.”
A spokesman for the Ministry of Defence said: "We expect very high standards of behaviour from our personnel, whether they are on or off duty. We take all allegations made against UK service personnel extremely seriously, and they are investigated swiftly by the Service authorities or the Kenyan authorities with appropriate support from the Armed Forces.”
The Foreign Office have been approached for comment by the Mirror.
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