Nanyuki and Nairobi residents protest renewal of BATUK military deal, citing decades of harm and demanding accountability
Residents in Nanyuki and Nairobi protested on August 2 against the renewal of Kenya's military cooperation agreement with Britain and the conduct of the British Army Training Unit Kenya BATUK. Demonstrators highlighted grievances including the killing of Agnes Wanjiru, the Lolldaiga fire, and hundreds of children reportedly abandoned by BATUK soldiers. They demanded the government publish the terms of the military agreement, renegotiate it on Kenyan terms, and strip British personnel of legal immunity, which they argue has shielded perpetrators from prosecution. The protests occurred days after the government extended BATUK's training exercises and indicated its intention to renew the broader defense arrangement. A Defence Cooperation Agreement signed in 2021 remains unratified, with the immunity question being a central obstacle. A parliamentary committee's inquiry concluded that BATUK is increasingly seen as an occupying force and accused the unit of decades of sexual abuse, killings, and environmental destruction, noting that murder is not explicitly listed as an offense outside official duty in the agreement.
