UK announces drought aid, anti-terror support for Kenya

By Andrew Wasike and Magdalene Mukami

NAIROBI, Kenya

British Secretary of State Boris Johnson has assured Kenya of the U.K.’s support in the fight against terrorism and also offered humanitarian aid to mitigate the impact of drought in the African country.

Speaking at a joint press conference in the capital Nairobi on Friday, Johnson said: “We have talked about the drought in the region and I am able to announce today that the U.K. government is going to be putting another 4 million pounds ($4.95 million) into supporting Kenya to fight the drought, particularly to tackle malnutrition in children.”

He also said a program will soon be rolled out to train Kenyan soldiers in combating terrorists at the British Army Training Unit Kenya (BATUK) -- a British military training facility in Nanyuki in central Kenya.

“We will provide training and work together at the institution called BATUK and it’s absolutely fantastic; I was out in the bush with a joint exercise and they have been doing it [training] for more than three weeks together, that military partnership I can tell you here and now, we will certainly want to continue.”

The U.K. also said it will support the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) in its fight against al-Shabaab terrorist group to bring peace to Somalia.

Kenyan Foreign Minister Ambassador Amina Mohammed said the U.K. is the largest foreign investor in Kenya, which has promised more partnerships in untapped sectors such as security, education, trade and investment.

She said that Kenya respects U.K.’s Brexit decision and has been assured it will not impact trade relations between the two countries.

Currently, there are over 210 British companies based in Kenya valued at over £2.5 billion ($3.1 billion).