Several hundred women who claim to have been raped by British soldiers training in Kenya staged a demonstration today to protest at what they said was a partisan investigation, witnesses said.
Britain's military police announced an inquiry this month into some of 600 rape claims that might be genuine, although they said most of the Kenyan police reports relating to allegations of rape spanning 30 years appeared to be forgeries.
Women dressed in the traditional red robes and beads of the Samburu tribe gathered at the Archer's Post trading centre, some five km (three miles) from a British army camp in northern Kenya, saying the army would not conduct a fair investigation.
"This is a deliberate attempt by the British army to frustrate us from achieving justice," said Ms Nandiliana Kuuri, who is almost 60, and who claims to have been raped by British soldiers in 1988.
Many residents in nearby towns accuse the women, most of whom are living in impoverished rural areas, of inventing rape claims in the hope of winning compensation in an area where even a relatively small amount of money represents a fortune.
One witness put the number of women protesting in Archer's Post today at about 300, while a local member of parliament, Mr Sammy Leshore, put the number at 400 to 650.
Mr Leshore accused the British military police of using threatening language when they asked the women to come to a camp to make statements about their allegations.
"They are trying to cover it up," Mr Leshore told Reuters. "I'm appealing to women lawyers in Kenya and all over the world to come and investigate the case so the right suspects will be identified," he said.
The British lawyer acting for the women, Mr Martyn Day, said this month that while most of the 600 claims were probably bogus, he believes at least 100 were real.
Britain - which has already been ordered to pay millions in compensation to Kenyans injured by weapons left at training grounds in the East African country - ordered a wide-ranging investigation over the past year after hundreds of Kenyan women came forward saying British troops had raped them.