"Thugs have violently attacked a Kenyan campaigner who brought a court case against the British army for environmental damage.."
From Mwangi Macharia 👇
"King Charles in Kenya: Thousands of Victims Awaiting Compensation for 2021 British Army Fire"
occrp.org
🤔
"King Charles in Kenya: Thousands of Victims Awaiting Compensation for 2021 British Army Fire"
occrp.org
🤔
During his recent trip to Kenya, King Charles addressed colonial atrocities meted out by the British government. But his visit failed to hasten justice for a more recent incident –– a 2021 fire started by the British army, which consumed 10,000 acres of land and allegedly
destroyed the livelihoods of 7,000 people in surrounding villages. For Regina Wambui and her community, King Charles’s visit to Kenya at the end of October was the last semblance of hope.
"Two and a half years ago, the British Army Training Unit in Kenya (BATUK) — of which Charles is the commander-in-chief — accidentally started a fire in the central Lolldaiga Hills. The fire lasted three days and destroyed more than 10,000 acres of land."
"Wambui’s land, opposite the army’s $85M training grounds, has been completely destroyed. All 10 of her cows died of smoke inhalation, she said. Once the fire started, elephants and lions ran rampant away from the base’s scorched earth, demolishing locals’ fences and farmland."
In March 2022, a Kenyan court ruled that people affected by the fire had the right to sue the British military, which had claimed “sovereign immunity” from legal action in the country.
"During the colonial period in the 1940s, a British man named Harry Hinde acquired the land of Lolldaiga Hills, which look toward Mount Kenya, the snow-capped second highest mountain in Africa."
independent.co.uk
english.almayadeen.net
independent.co.uk
english.almayadeen.net
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"The ranch and wildlife conservancy is home to a variety of wildlife, including endangered zebras. It was part of an area in north-central Kenya that became known as “the White Highlands,” due to European settlers taking over the land."
Charles was never going to give a formal apology on this trip for the dispossession of Kenyans during the colonial period, said Macharia Munene, professor of history and international relations at the United States International University in Nairobi.
“They aren’t going to condemn the entire system. If they do then they will be obligated to pay reparations,” he said. “For Charles to say that colonialism was evil is to negate the whole empire.”
Hinde’s land was first made available for the U.K. military in 2009 by his grandson, Robert Wells, through his company Lolldaiga Hills Limited, which is named along with BATUK as a respondent in the lawsuit.
A British media outlet found that between 2010 and 2016, Lolldaiga Hills received 1.2 million pounds from the UK military, which an army spokesperson said was compensation for use of its land. In November 2021, Wells sold most of the Lolldaiga ranch.
Each year, around 10,000 soldiers pass through the BATUK barracks, where a refurbished center was opened in January 2021. Just two months after the opening, the fire started. The British claimed it was a military exercise that went wrong.. 🤔
“If you’re a fire, those are perfect conditions to just spread rapidly,” said Jane Marriott, the UK High Commissioner at the time, promising a full investigation. “It certainly would not be set on fire deliberately.”
Butthe blaze was not completely out of the blue. A document obtained from the British Ministry of Defence through the FOIA revealed that British soldiers had also caused five smaller fires at other training camps in Kenya in the month leading up to the Lolldaiga Hills blaze.
For one soldier, the fire was just another day on the base. “Caused a 4.5 K fire, killed an elephant and feel terrible about it but hey-ho, when in Rome,” the officer wrote on Snapchat.
In the surrounding villages, the hot winds were apocalyptic for days. “The smoke covered everything,” said Gabriel Ngata, 76. “There were constantly tears coming out our eyes.”
Last Monday, ahead of Charles’ visit, Ngata was part of the group that traveled over 100 miles to Nairobi from Nanyuki to talk about the fire. But he was told by police to not get out of the car once he arrived, and says he was trailed back home.
Ngata is a petitioner in the lawsuit filed against the British army and Lolldaiga Hills Limited by the ACCPA. The Kenya Wildlife Service and Kenya Forest Service are named as interested parties. The plaintiffs allege that “massive amounts of carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and
other toxic and poisonous fumes were emitted into the environment.”
A report commissioned a year after the fire by the company that owns the ranch, and paid for by the British Ministry of Defence, estimated that the landscape will take until approximately 2060 to recover.
A report commissioned a year after the fire by the company that owns the ranch, and paid for by the British Ministry of Defence, estimated that the landscape will take until approximately 2060 to recover.
"But since then,the process has been riddled with complications. Under a military treaty, the Intergovernmental Liaison Committee (IGLC) — staffed by officials from both countries & co-chaired by a British army brigadier — was appointed to scrutinize the claims."
James Heappey
James Heappey
The APPC said they invited BATUK and IGLC to visit victims on multiple occasions, but they never came. However, British army vehicles are a frequent sighting on the roads around Nanyuki.
In August, the Kenyan government announced it would begin investigating alleged British army crimes in Nanyuki over the last three decades, including the murder of a woman by a British soldier.
In 2012, the body of Agnes Wanjiru, .. was discovered in a septic tank of a hotel ..
In 2012, the body of Agnes Wanjiru, .. was discovered in a septic tank of a hotel ..
Nearly a decade later, The Times reported that a soldier had confessed to his comrades to killing her, and showed them her body. He has not been charged.
thetimes.co.uk
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thetimes.co.uk
🤮
Wanjiru’s niece, Esther Njoki, 19, was preparing to speak about her aunt at the press conference before Charles’s arrival, alongside victims of the fire, before it was shut down. “It’s a massive, massive cover up,” Njoki told OCCRP
This case is a priority for the UK Government,” a UK government spokesperson told OCCRP. “To protect the integrity of that investigation and in the interests of justice, it would be inappropriate to comment further
"Back in Nanyuki, residents believe the fire is responsible for around a hundred deaths. The British army also recently admitted to using white phosphorus, an extremely toxic chemical, on the training grounds."
nation.africa
Yeah, that's what I suspected.
nation.africa
Yeah, that's what I suspected.
"Both inside and outside her home, Wambui constantly fears for her children.
The sound of the army’s mortar rounds terrifies them and shakes the ground. On the long walk to school, wildlife roam free after destroying fences to get away from the fire."
The sound of the army’s mortar rounds terrifies them and shakes the ground. On the long walk to school, wildlife roam free after destroying fences to get away from the fire."
"Most significantly, ever since the blaze, they say the river running from the Lolldaiga hills — and the only place residents can get their water — has been dark murky brown.
“I am worried about me and my kids drinking the water,” Wambui said. “But what can I do?"
“I am worried about me and my kids drinking the water,” Wambui said. “But what can I do?"
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