Rape allegations against British soldiers cleared

LONDON, Dec 14: British soldiers have been cleared over allegations that they raped hundreds of women in Kenya while on training exercises, the Times newspaper reported today.

The findings of an inquiry by Britain's Royal Military Police -- due to be made public today -- concluded that police records were forged with the consent of senior Kenyan officers to support the claims, according to the newspaper.

It said the investigation found that there was not one single case to answer out of 2,187 reported rapes.

From Oct. 2003 to July 2004, a team of British investigators interviewed all 2,187 claimants, the Times reported.

Most of them were Masai and Samburu tribeswomen from areas where about 3,000 British servicemen train every year, it said.

''No corroborative evidence which will stand up in a UK court of law, and which might lead to a successful prosecution of any named individual, could be found to support any of the rape allegations,'' an unnamed source linked to the investigation was quoted in the Times as saying.

The report also cleared senior British officers who were on duty when the allegations arose in 2003, the newspaper said. The claimants had alleged they had reported the incidents to these officers.

Hundreds of women from the Samburu and Masai tribes have made allegations of rape dating back to the 1970s. Many say they or their tribal chiefs reported the cases to the Kenyan police at the time, citing police and medical records as evidence.

Another unnamed investigating source told the Times: ''We are not saying women were not raped, just that there is nothing to show they were by British soldiers. What we are able to show is a doctoring of evidence. The evidence is simply not credible.'' The report's findings were subjected to a four-month review and vetting process before receiving the independent endorsement of Britain's Devon&Cornwall Constabulary, the Times said.

Neither the Ministry of Defence nor the Devon&Cornwall police were immediately available to comment.

Reuters