They left them in poverty and flew away. British soldiers abandoned their children en masse in Africa

British soldiers stationed at a base in Nanyuki, Kenya, fathered children with local women for years and in many cases later left them, the BBC revealed. Lawyers helping these children find their fathers say they have almost a hundred documented cases.

The oldest of these children, whom the creators of the BBC World of Secrets podcast met, is now 70 years old, the youngest just three years old, which proves that these events have been repeated for decades.

For two years, the podcast's creators accompanied British children's rights lawyer James Netto and Kenyan lawyer Kelvin Kubai, who, growing up near Nanyuki, witnessed the problems of these mothers and children.

They collaborated with a geneticist, prof. Denise Syndercombe Court of King's College London to help children in Kenya find their fathers. Together, the team searched commercial DNA databases to identify British soldiers by matching their genetic code.

“These people are not looking for a quick buck or compensation. They want to know who their fathers are… It is your basic right to know who your family is, what your identity is and what your heritage is,” Netto said.

As the BBC notes, through this process, children who didn't know where their fathers were, or in some cases even who they were, or who were told their fathers were dead, may learn the truth. Some of these children struggled with extreme poverty or were excluded by their communities.

The BBC reports that paternity has so far been confirmed by British family courts in 12 cases, but Netto and Kubai say there are almost 100 documented cases of children born near the British BATUK training base in Nanyukia town 185 km north of Nairobi, whose fathers are British soldiers.

Most of the 12 court-certified cases are now eligible to apply for British citizenship. People under 18 years of age or continuing education will be entitled to receive the benefit.

The BBC points out that the BATUK database, established in 1964, is visited by over 5,000 people every year. British soldiers, aroused serious controversy for decades of its existence. It recalls that the report of a two-year investigation by the Kenyan Parliament, published in December 2025, accused British soldiers of behaving in a “culture of impunity”, which resulted in sexual abuse, two counts of murder, rights violations, environmental destruction and the abandonment and neglect of local children.

The British Ministry of Defense said it “deeply regrets the issues and challenges that have arisen as a result of the presence of UK forces in Kenya… We continue to take action wherever possible to address them.” (PAP)

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