Many of the complainants were from the
Masai |
A lawyer representing hundreds of Kenyan tribeswomen who claim they
were raped by British soldiers has called for a public inquiry.
The Ministry of Defence confirmed the Royal Military Police (RMP) are
continuing to investigate claims 613 women were assaulted.
But it refused to comment on a report in The Times saying investigators
believe 37 women were raped in northern Kenya by troops taking part in
military exercises during the 1980s and 1990s.
Martyn Day, the British lawyer seeking compensation for the Kenyan
women, told BBC News there had been an "epidemic" of rapes in Kenya.
Allegations 'true'
He said he was convinced a "significant proportion" of all the
allegations were true and called for a public inquiry, rather than "this
Army investigating the Army we are currently seeing".
"What we're clear about is that the Royal Military Police (RMP) have
investigated 37 cases and from what we've heard on the ground they're
convinced that most of those if not all of them are true," he told BBC
Radio 4's Today programme.
"But as far as I can see, these are the only 37 cases that the RMP have
actually looked at.
"We would say that there's a fair chance that a significant proportion
of the other claims are also likely to be true."
 |
 We can confirm that there is an ongoing
criminal investigation into rape allegations by Kenyan women by
British soldiers, but there have been no arrests and none are
imminent. 
|
The Times report said the RMP was considering charges against two
serving soldiers.
One faces a rape charge and another could be accused of failing to
report a rape, the paper says.
A dozen other officers are being investigated for covering up reports
of sexual assault, the paper reports.
A spokesman for the MoD said: "We can confirm that there is an ongoing
criminal investigation into rape allegations by Kenyan women by British
soldiers, but there have been no arrests and none are imminent.
"The Ministry of Defence takes these allegations extremely seriously.
"The Kenyan authorities are co-operating with the investigation and the
Royal Military Police are at present dealing with those cases reported and
investigated by the Kenyan police.
Forensic examination
"We welcome any information that can assist our inquiries. It would be
inappropriate to comment further at this stage."
The investigation began this summer after hundreds of Kenyan women made
claims they had been raped over the past 30 years.
A spokesman for the British High Commission in Nairobi said on Thursday
that forensic examination of Kenyan police records suggested all the
relevant entries were forgeries.
A year ago the Ministry of Defence agreed to pay �4.5m to victims of
unexploded ordinance in Kenya.
