Politics and policy
Some of the vehicles used by the British Army Training Unit of Kenya based in Nanyuki. PHOTO | FILE |
NATION MEDIA GROUP
By EDWIN MUTAI, emutai@ke.nationmedia.com
Talks between Kenya and United Kingdom over training
of British military personnel in Laikipia have stalled, after the
countries failed to agree on three issues.
Foreign Affairs secretary Amina Mohammed on Wednesday told
Parliament that they were yet to agree on whether British soldiers who
commit crimes while in the country would be prosecuted in local courts.
Other issues are opening up of British military
bases for inspection by Kenyans and ceding resources to the people of
Maralal and Nanyuki where the UK soldiers conduct training.
Kenya had threatened to tear up its military
co-operation deal with the United Kingdom, which has run 40 years, and
is currently valued at about £58 million (Sh7.9 billion) a year, up from
about Sh2.5 billion three years ago.
The pact was extended by six months to October after the initial deal expired to allow for the talks.
“We want British soldiers who kill to be tried here,” Ms Mohammed told the Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs.
“They have a facility in Kenya where not even the
president or the Chief of Kenya Defence Forces is allowed into. Many of
their containers come in and they have refused to allow us to inspect
them,” she said.
The pact allows up to 10,000 British troops a year
to carry out military exercises in Kenya’s harsh terrain before they are
deployed to active operations such as Afghanistan and Iraq. The deal
also includes training of the Kenya Defence Forces.
Kenya also wants more of its troops to be trained in the UK, up from the current two yearly.
British troops who commit crimes in Kenya while
training are seen to fall under the jurisdiction of UK military law.
Kenya wants them to be tried locally.
In 2013, Sergeant George Madison shot and killed
Tilam Leresh, an armed herdsman, during a live fire exercise in
Lolkanjau, Samburu, outside the designated military training grounds.
He was confined to barracks for seven months while a
diplomatic battle raged over where he should be tried before being
removed from the country.
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