The United Kingdom has cancelled a planned military training exercise in Laikipia later this year after the Government of Kenya failed to issue the licences required for the exercise, the UK's Ministry of Defence (MOD) has said.
In a statement, an MOD spokesperson said the exercise will instead be conducted at an alternative location outside Kenya, describing the decision as regrettable and acknowledging the economic impact on communities that would have benefited from the deployment.
"The UK highly values its relationship with Kenya, which is underpinned by mutual benefit, respect and cooperation. The UK-Kenya Defence Partnership is one of the great strengths of our relationship. Our joint training and operations with the Kenyan Defence Forces (KDF) are keeping both Kenyan and British people safe. It is with regret that the necessary licences required to allow training to take place in Laikipia later this year have not been forthcoming. As a result, the planned training will now be conducted at an alternative location outside Kenya,” the spokesperson said.
The move does not, however, affect the presence of the British Army Training Unit (BATUK) in Laikipia, where the UK army trains its infantry units for overseas deployments, using Kenya's terrain to simulate operations in harsh and complex environments.
Kenya has renewed the Defence Cooperation Agreement with the UK for decades, until recently, when the renewal of the licence was delayed.
As a result, the training that was set to kick off this September will continue outside the country.
Under the pact, UK service personnel and over 1,100 KDF personnel from all three services also benefit annually from the UK training and exercises, both in the country and the UK.
It is not clear whether the delay in license renewal is linked to the standoff with Kenyan legislators over alleged grievances by communities surrounding the training unit that were documented in the inquiry report by the National Assembly’s Defence, Intelligence and Foreign Relations Committee into the conduct of BATUK personnel.
During his visit to the country in March this year, the British Army Chief, Sir Roly Walker, pledged to personally follow up on the grievances.
The army chief also visited the Unit where he evaluated his troops' readiness training for global operations, and said the UK wishes to keep training its soldiers in the area for as long as possible.
“We are not here as a right; we are all really clear that we are here at the invitation of the Kenyan Government under their license to operate, and we work very closely with the MoD and the Kenya army to earn that,” said the General.
Yesterday, the British High Commissioner to Kenya Matt Baugh held talks with President William Ruto at State House. Both the UK and Nairobi did not disclose whether the discussions delved into the license issue.
“Our discussions focused on strengthening Kenya-United Kingdom relations. We agreed to leverage the Kenya-UK Economic Partnership Agreement to expand trade, investment and shared economic opportunities. Briefed the High Commissioner on the implementation of the National Infrastructure Fund and explored areas of partnership to accelerate our national transformation through strategic investment. We also reaffirmed our commitment to regional peace and security, recognising that stability is the foundation of shared prosperity and sustainable progress,” State House said in a post on X.
On Thursday, the UK, however, reaffirmed its commitment to its long-standing defence partnership with Kenya, saying it would continue engaging the government to facilitate the resumption of military training in the country as soon as possible.
"We recognise the disappointment this decision will cause for those who would have benefited from the economic activity generated by the exercise. All UK training activity in Kenya is dependent on the permission from the Government of Kenya. We remain committed to our defence partnership with Kenya and will continue to engage closely with the Kenyan Government to support the resumption of training in-country at the earliest appropriate opportunity,” the spokesperson added.
Comments
Sign in with Google to comment, reply, and like comments.
Continue with Google