By Nneka Nwogwugwu
Some Kenyans have blamed the British Army over fire outbreak that destroyed about 12,000 acres of land at the privately owned Lolldaiga conservancy in central Kenya.
The Conservation is home to animals such as elephants, buffalos, lions, hyenas, jackals and the endangered Grevy’s zebra.
A widow of Linus Murangiri, a worker at the conservation centre told the BBC that her husband was crushed to death by a vehicle as he rushed to help put out a fire at a Kenyan wildlife sanctuary which was hosting a training exercise by the British army.
Despite all the publicity over the fire in March, his death has not previously been acknowledged.
Murangiri’s widow said she wants a speedy investigation into how her husband died and the cause of the fire, and for the findings to be made public even though there is no suggestion the British army was directly involved in his death.
Also, the official cause of the fire has not been made public but the incident is at the centre of an environmental lawsuit brought by a lobby group and almost 1,000 local residents.
Residents said the wildfire lasted for at least four days as thick plumes of smoke filled the sky, making it impossible to move.
The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) has denied claims that five elephants and a calf were killed.
A spokesperson for the British High Commission said the army had conducted an internal investigation into the fire but because “this is part of an ongoing court case, it would be inappropriate to comment any further”.
The Lolldaiga conservancy – about 49,000 acres of hilly bushland with a backdrop of the ice-capped Mount Kenya – is part of the Laikipia plateau, where hundreds of thousands of acres was seized by the British during the colonial era, leading to land disputes which continue to this day.
It is just 70km (45 miles) from the Lewa conservancy, where Prince William proposed to Kate Middleton in November 2010.
