Why is Kenya investigating alleged abuse by UK soldiers?

Multiple allegations of serious offences, including murder, have hounded British soldiers in Kenya for years.

Kenya this week kick-started public hearings into widespread allegations that United Kingdom soldiers stationed in the East African country have committed multiple human rights violations.

For over a decade, locals on different occasions accused British soldiers training in towns in central Kenya of misconduct, environmental degradation, murder, and a host of other serious offences.

The hearings mark the culmination of long-winded legal proceedings to try British soldiers under Kenyan law following years of lobbying by civil society groups and after initial pushback from the British government.

Here’s what we know about the abuse allegations and what’s expected to happen after the hearings:

The British Army Training Unit Kenya (BATUK) is a permanent training support force based in Nanyuki, central Kenya – and it has existed since Kenyan independence from the UK in 1963.