British Soldiers to Resume Training in Kenya After Covid-19 Disruption

British soldiers are set to resume training in Kenya following a disruption occasioned by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Daily Nation reports that the troops operating under the British Army Training Unit in Kenya (Batuk) will return to the country in January 2021.

The military officers were flown to the UK in March following the outbreak of Covid-19 in the country in a move aimed at protecting them and their families from the disease.  Batuk operates from Nyati Barracks in Nanyuki town.

The British High Commission in Kenya said the troops will be redeployed after a decline in the number of Covid-19 infections in Kenya.

“Some of the staffers are already back because we have seen the Covid-19 numbers go down. So we are ready to resume training with our Kenya Defense Forces (KDF) partners,” Deputy British High Commissioner Julius Court said in a statement.

The same was confirmed by Defense Advisor to the British High Commission Brigadier Mark Thornhill.

Alongside KDF officers, British soldiers have been training at the Loldaiga Hills which is an ideal location due to tough terrains, erratic weather patterns, and a hot environment. 

Last year, Kenya and the UK agreed to a joint military training on how to respond to competent enemy force in combat. This saw 1,700 troops from Batuk and 300 from KDF integrated into a specialized training at Loldaiga Hills in Laikipia County.

10 joint KDF-Batuk training exercises involving 1,500 Kenyan soldiers have been conducted in the past two years.

To strengthen bilateral ties, the two countries signed another joint training agreement last month.