Why is Kenya investigating alleged abuse by UK soldiers?

Britain's Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, left, awards a Long Service and Good Conduct medal to an officer at the British Army Training Unit Kenya [BATUK] in Nanyuki, Kenya, on March 17, 2017 [Thomas Mukoya/AP Photo]

Kenya this week kick-started public hearings into widespread allegations that United Kingdom soldiers stationed in the East African country have committed multiple human rights violations.

For over a decade, locals on different occasions accused British soldiers training in towns in central Kenya of misconduct, environmental degradation, murder, and a host of other serious offences.