{"id":363087,"date":"2025-08-21T21:52:13","date_gmt":"2025-08-21T21:52:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/363087\/"},"modified":"2025-08-21T21:52:13","modified_gmt":"2025-08-21T21:52:13","slug":"britain-to-pay-nearly-4-million-in-compensation-after-troops-sparked-huge-forest-fire-while-training-in-kenya","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/363087\/","title":{"rendered":"Britain to pay nearly $4 million in compensation after troops sparked huge forest fire while training in Kenya"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n The British government has agreed to pay almost $4 million to thousands of victims of a blaze started by its soldiers while in training in Kenya, according to documents seen by CNN.\n <\/p>\n

\n The settlement follows a long legal battle by local community members in the East African country. The campaigners have said the effects of the 2021 fire in an expansive wildlife conservancy in central Kenya have caused them lifelong health issues, damaged their property and polluted their environment.\n <\/p>\n

\n Some of them also told CNN that they lost family members due to ailments arising from the inferno that burned through more than 10,000 acres<\/a> in the privately owned Lolldaiga conservancy.\n <\/p>\n

\n The fire is believed to have started accidentally during a British military training exercise. The British Army Training Unit Kenya (BATUK) posted a video<\/a> at the time showing its officers battling the blaze, in which it claimed the community and wildlife had been kept safe.\n <\/p>\n

\n The government of the United Kingdom has now agreed to pay \u00a32.9 million (about $3.9 million) to 7,723 Kenyans who filed complaints, but will not accept liability for the fire, according to a confidential settlement agreement obtained by CNN.\n <\/p>\n

\n The settlement is not being shared equally. Many beneficiaries were disappointed that, after the four-year legal fight, they will receive just 22,000 Kenyan shillings ($170) and now plan to protest, according to a local lawmaker.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cIt\u2019s a success story because it\u2019s the first time we\u2019ve ever won a case against the British Army in Kenya but it\u2019s so little it\u2019s almost nothing,\u201d Laikipia County MP Cate Waruguru told CNN. \u201cThey feel that their sweat and their struggle have not borne any fruit. We need to see our courts stand up to protect the rights of Kenyans,\u201d she added.\n <\/p>\n

\"Lawyer<\/p>\n

\n Kelvin Kubai, a 27-year-old lawyer who grew up in the area, initiated the class-action lawsuit that culminated in the settlement, although he said his clients had hoped for a payout some 20 times larger.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cMilitary training and conservation are incompatible. There is a need to separate them,\u201d Kubai told CNN on Thursday. \u201cThis payment is nowhere close to give (my clients)\u2026 the financial assistance to enable them to move far away from this training. So the only thing now is to move the training away from them.\u201d He says the \u201cex gratia\u201d payout \u2013 a voluntary payment made outside of any legal obligation \u2013 was the fastest way to compensate the affected community instead of pushing for a full trial that could have lasted years.\n <\/p>\n

\n The British army pays Kenya about $400,000 a year to allow BATUK to train in the country. The UK troops operate mostly in large wildlife conservancies in Laikipia and the neighboring Samburu County. But allegations of human rights abuses including rape and murder have dogged BATUK for decades, leading to an ongoing Kenyan parliamentary investigation. Military officials say they investigate all reported claims of misconduct against officers in Kenya, but they do not comment on individual cases.\n <\/p>\n

\n The British High Commission in Nairobi, which represents BATUK in country, said it was \u201cpleased that a global settlement has been agreed with the claimants\u2019 appointed legal representatives\u201d and called the fire \u201cextremely regrettable\u201d but declined to say if any officers had faced disciplinary action for it.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThe UK has devoted considerable time, effort and resource to resolving these claims for the people affected,\u201d a spokesperson told CNN in a statement.\n <\/p>\n

\n CNN has also contacted the British Ministry of Defence for comment.\n <\/p>\n

\n Community members have previously demonstrated against BATUK and the British government. When CNN met a group of area residents outside the fence of the Lolldaiga conservancy in June last year, many hoped for a substantial payout so that they could move away from the area.\n <\/p>\n

\n One woman raised her inhaler above her head as she explained that she and most of her neighbors had developed breathing difficulties requiring medication and frequent hospital visits following the fire.\n <\/p>\n

\n Nearby, Hannah Wanjiku fought back tears as she spoke of the British troops who train near her home. She said that her grandchildren are sick and that she has developed chest problems. \u201cWe live a difficult life. If we get this money, we will leave,\u201d Wanjiku added.\n <\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

\n The community meeting in June 2024 was convened by activist James Mwangi who has campaigned for the residents since the blaze. \u201cIn March 2021, this area was a furnace for seven days. Over 10,000 people were choked by smoke, toxic smoke,\u201d he told CNN at the time.\n <\/p>\n

\n In environmental terms, one report<\/a>, by consultancy firm Howard Humphreys \u2013 commissioned by Lolldaiga Hills Limited \u2013 found it would take until at least 2060 for the land to fully recover from the effects of the fire.\n <\/p>\n

\n Previously a private livestock ranch, Lolldaiga became a conservancy in 2021 and is home to the endangered Grevy\u2019s zebra, elephants, buffaloes, lions, hyenas, jackals, vervet monkeys and baboons.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Facebook Tweet Email Link The British government has agreed to pay almost $4 million to thousands of victims…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":363088,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5018,3,4],"tags":[748,393,4884,1144,712,16,15,1764],"class_list":{"0":"post-363087","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-britain","8":"category-uk","9":"category-united-kingdom","10":"tag-britain","11":"tag-england","12":"tag-great-britain","13":"tag-northern-ireland","14":"tag-scotland","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom","17":"tag-wales"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115068976873026640","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363087","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=363087"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363087\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/363088"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=363087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=363087"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=363087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}