Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

top

Kenya

British-backed Kenya Mau Mau memorial opens in rare colonial apology

The commemorative statue follows a June 2013 decision by Britain to compensate more than 5,200 elderly Kenyans tortured and abused during the insurgency. The £19.9 million (27 million-euro, $31 million) deal — separate from the cost of the memorial — followed a four-year legal battle.

Professor David Anderson, author of one of the first books to fully document the extreme abuses, ‘Histories of the Hanged’, said the memorial was “long overdue”.

“This gesture will do far more good than any money you give out,” said Anderson, professor of history at Britain’s University of Warwick.

“It is the first memorial of this kind to come out of this kind of adversarial process,” he said.

Lawyer Daniel Leader, from the London-based Leigh Day firm that represented the veterans in court, said the memorial was “historic” and represented “the first apology by the UK government for abuses”.

While the Mau Mau were ultimately defeated, their struggle was seen as a key step towards Kenya’s independence in 1964. But the struggle also created bitter divisions within communities.

Some of the worst atrocities were carried out between Kenyans loyal to colonial forces and the Mau Mau.

Kenya’s founding president Jomo Kenyatta — whose son Uhuru is president today — opposed the violence carried out by the Mau Mau, and the group remained outlawed until 2003.

About The Author

Pages: 1 2

Comments
Advertisement

More on Capital News