The British army has cancelled a training exercise in Kenya that was planned for September. The Kenyan government refused to sign off on a new agreement that would have set the rules for continued military cooperation between the two countries. The Guardian

The cancelled exercise involved the 1st Battalion the Duke of Lancaster's Regiment. A UK Ministry of Defence spokesperson said the permissions needed to train in Laikipia later in the year had not been granted, and that the exercise would happen somewhere else outside Kenya instead. The spokesperson added that the UK still wants to keep the defence partnership and will keep trying to restart in-country training "at the earliest appropriate opportunity."

The British Army Training Unit Kenya, known as BATUK, is based near the town of Nanyuki in Laikipia County. British soldiers have been training in Kenya for about 60 years, going back to an agreement signed shortly before Kenya became independent in 1963. Kenyan Parliament Committee Report

The disagreement comes down to two main issues. The first is about which country's courts get to handle criminal cases when British soldiers are accused of committing crimes on Kenyan soil. The second is about how much money Britain pays Kenya to host the training camp. Kenyan lawmakers want changes to the agreement that would give local authorities stronger powers to hold British soldiers accountable. The UK rejected those changes. Kenyan Parliament Hansard

Nelson Koech, who leads the Kenyan parliament's Defence, Intelligence and Foreign Relations Committee, said the committee wants stronger accountability. That includes local jurisdiction over serious offences, better protection for nearby communities, and action on recommendations from a parliamentary investigation into BATUK's conduct. Koech also said the two governments are actively talking to try to resolve things.

Those recommendations come from a November 2025 report that looked into allegations of human rights violations, environmental damage, and sexual abuse by British soldiers at the BATUK base. Al Jazeera The most well-known case connected to BATUK is the death of Agnes Wanjiru in 2012. A British soldier named Robert Purkiss has been charged with murder and denies the charge. Kenya is handling the case, and a hearing about whether to send Purkiss to Kenya is due in November.

The case had stalled since Wanjiru's death in 2012 but moved forward under John Healey's time as UK defence secretary. Before taking that role, Healey had called on the government to do more to progress the case.

The broader context here is a long-running tension between how useful BATUK is to both countries and the growing pressure inside Kenya for stronger accountability. Kenya gets to train its own soldiers through BATUK, and the British troop presence helps the local economy near Nanyuki. But the parliamentary investigation, the Wanjiru case, and the push for legal reform have together changed the political mood in Kenya's capital, Nairobi. Now, signing the new agreement depends on concessions that London has so far refused to make.

There are also signs that Kenya is looking for other defence partners. On 9 April 2026, Kenya's parliament discussed signing a defence agreement with Ethiopia. Kenyan Parliament Hansard That discussion does not directly replace the UK relationship, but it shows Kenya is willing to broaden its security ties beyond its former colonial ruler.

For the UK, the short-term impact is manageable: the September exercise moves elsewhere. The bigger risk is longer-term. If the disputes over jurisdiction and money stay unresolved, BATUK's future as an ongoing training presence becomes uncertain. The November hearing in the Wanjiru case will be another test of whether the legal process and the diplomatic talks can move forward without one disrupting the other.

Koech says the two governments are actively engaged, which suggests a resolution is still possible. But the UK has rejected Kenya's proposed changes, Kenya's parliament is standing firm on accountability, and a murder case is working through the courts. The path back to normal training is getting narrower.