The British army has cancelled a training exercise in Kenya set for September after the Kenyan government declined to ratify a bilateral defence agreement that would have set the terms for ongoing 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 licences needed to allow training in Laikipia later in the year had not been granted, and that the exercise would move to an alternative location outside Kenya. The spokesperson added that the UK government remained committed to the defence partnership and would keep working to resume in-country training "at the earliest appropriate opportunity."

The British Army Training Unit Kenya, known as BATUK, operates near Nanyuki in Laikipia County. British soldiers have trained in Kenya through BATUK for roughly 60 years, a presence rooted in a post-independence defence agreement signed on 3 June 1963. Kenyan Parliament Committee Report

The dispute comes down to two sticking points: which criminal cases Kenya gets to keep primary jurisdiction over when British soldiers are accused of offences on Kenyan soil, and how much Britain pays Kenya to host the training camp. Kenyan lawmakers have pushed for amendments to the bilateral defence agreement that would give local authorities stronger powers to hold British soldiers accountable for offences committed in Kenya. The United Kingdom rejected those amendments. Kenyan Parliament Hansard

Nelson Koech, chair of the Kenyan National Assembly's Defence, Intelligence and Foreign Relations Committee, said the committee has called for stronger accountability measures. Those include jurisdiction over serious offences, enhanced protection for local communities, and implementation of recommendations from a parliamentary inquiry into BATUK's conduct. Koech also said the two governments are actively engaging to resolve the outstanding issues.

Those recommendations trace back to a November 2025 report by the Departmental Committee of Defence, which followed an inquiry into allegations of human rights violations, environmental destruction, and sexual abuse by British soldiers at the BATUK base. Al Jazeera The most high-profile case linked to BATUK is the death of Agnes Wanjiru in 2012. British soldier Robert Purkiss has been charged with murder in the case and denies the single charge. Kenya has retained jurisdiction over the matter, and an extradition hearing is due in November.

Legal proceedings in the Wanjiru case had stalled since her death in 2012 but advanced under John Healey's tenure as UK defence secretary. As shadow defence secretary, Healey had previously called on the government to do more to progress the case.

The broader context here is a long-running tension between the strategic value of BATUK to both nations and the political pressure within Kenya for greater accountability. Kenya benefits from training its own armed forces at BATUK, and the British troop presence is valuable for the local economy near Nanyuki. But the parliamentary inquiry, the Wanjiru prosecution, and the demand for jurisdictional reform have collectively shifted the political calculus in Nairobi, making ratification of the defence agreement contingent on concessions London has so far declined to make.

There are also signs that Kenya is diversifying its defence partnerships. On 9 April 2026, the Kenyan Parliament discussed signing a defence agreement with Ethiopia. Kenyan Parliament Hansard While that discussion does not directly displace the UK relationship, it signals Nairobi's willingness to broaden its security cooperation beyond its former colonial partner.

For the UK, the immediate operational impact is manageable: the September exercise will relocate to an alternative training site. The deeper risk is structural. If the jurisdictional and financial disputes remain unresolved, BATUK's future as a continuous training deployment becomes uncertain. The November extradition hearing in the Wanjiru case will be a further test of whether the legal and political channels can move in parallel without one destabilising the other.

What Koech describes as active engagement between the two governments suggests the door to resolution remains open. But with the UK having rejected Kenya's amendments, the Kenyan parliament holding firm on accountability demands, and a murder case proceeding through the courts, the path back to routine training is narrowing.