October 20th 1952: State of emergency in Kenya
On this day in 1952, during the Mau Mau rebellion, colonial governor Evelyn Baring declared a state of emergency in Kenya. The conflict was a rebellion against British colonial rule, led by groups of Kikuyu Kenyans collectively refered to as ‘Mau Mau’. With its origins in 1947, the Mau Mau originally targetted Kenyans who collaborated with the British, then began attacking Europeans. Fullscale war broke out in 1952, which led Baring to declare a state of emergency, and call in British reinforcements. The British response to the rebellion was brutal, with thousands of suspects - many of whom were innocent - being held in camps, tortured, and killed. War crimes were committed on both sides, with the Mau Mau, as well as the British, regularly torturing captives and brutally killing civilians. The Mau Mau were not the only protestors against British colonialism, with political figures like Jomo Kenyatta consistently pushing for political rights and land reform. However, Kenyatta was imprisoned as a Mau Mau conspirator in 1953 and was not released until 1961; it is now widely believed that he was innocent of the accusations. By the time the authorities arrested and executed the primary leader of the rebellion - Dedan Kimathi - the Mau Mau forces had dwindled. Opposition to British rule continued after the end of the rebellion, and the state of emergency declared due to the Mau Mau was not suspended until 1960. After this, the process of independence for Kenya began, finally being achieved in 1963, and Kenyatta became the leader of the new nation. The legacy of the Mau Mau Rebellion has been a divisive one, with supporters of the British regime portraying it as a story of heroic Europeans defeating bloodthirsty Kenyans. However, in Kenya the Mau Mau are remembered as freedom fighters, and more recent accounts have revised the traditional narrative and emphasized the exploitation and oppression of Kenyans under colonial rule.
No comments:
Post a Comment