Kenya Land and Freedom Army | |
---|---|
Leaders | Dedan Kimathi |
Dates of operation | 1952–1960 |
Newspaper | High Command [1] |
Ideology | |
Size | 35,000+ [2] |
Opponents | United Kingdom |
Battles and wars | Mau Mau uprising |
The Kenya Land and Freedom Army (KLFA), also known as the Mau Mau, was a Kenyan insurgent group which fought against British colonial rule in Kenya during the Mau Mau rebellion from 1952 to 1960. Its membership consisted largely of the Kikuyu people. The KFLA was led by Dedan Kimathi for most of its existence. After four years, British forces managed to destroy the KFLA militarily, and Kimathi was captured and executed in 1957. Though the Mau Mau rebellion was ultimately suppressed, it played a major role in achieving Kenyan independence, which occurred in 1963.
The KLFA's membership consisted largely of the Kikuyu people, many of whom had their lands confiscated by British colonial officials and given to white settlers during the early 20th century. The KFLA espoused African nationalist and anti-colonial ideologies, and was led by Dedan Kimathi for most of its existence. [3]
The KFLA began what is now called the Mau Mau uprising in 1952. After four years of counterinsurgency operations, British forces managed to largely neutralise the KFLA as a military threat, and Kimathi was captured and executed by the colonial authorities in 1957. The Mau Mau rebellion was fully defeated by 1960. [3]
During the rebellion, thousands of KFLA insurgents were killed by the British, including 1,090 people who were executed by the colonial authorities. Official numbers state that 11,000 insurgents were killed, though the Kenya Human Rights Commission has estimated that "90,000 Kenyans were executed, tortured or maimed during the crackdown, and 160,000 were detained in appalling conditions". Oxford University professor David Anderson estimated that up to 25,000 people were killed during the conflict. [4] The colonial administration also interned at least 80,000 Kenyans suspected of being affiliated with the KFLA in detention camps, with some estimates of the number of detainees being as high as 320,000 people. [5] [6] Torture was widespread against detainees, and in 1959 11 prisoners were killed by camp guards in the Hola massacre. [7] The KFLA also committed numerous atrocities, including the Lari massacre, and murdered at least 1,819 Kenyan civilians. [8]
A KFLA platoon consisted between 500 and 2,000 insurgents. If the platoon numbered in the thousands, its general was assisted by a colonel and a brigadier. [3] KFLA generals included Chui, Kassam Njogu, China, Stanley Mathenge, Kubu Kubu and Bamuingi. The capture of Kimathi on 21 October 1956, fatally crippled the KFLA, and ultimately played a major role in ending the rebellion. [3]
One of the most important achievements of the KFLA was the development of a robust and effective information system that combined oral experiences of ordinary Kenyans with print works. Songs were produced to pass on important information and to raise political consciousness and at the same time newspapers would be published. The KFLA published over 50 newspapers in different languages such as Swahili, Kikuyu and other Kenyan languages. KFLA members also produced a large amount of sound recordings and had their own presses. [9]
Though the Mau Mau rebellion was ultimately suppressed, it played a major role in achieving Kenyan independence, which occurred on 12 December 1963. After independence, former KFLA general Bamuingi continued to lead a team of former KFLA insurgents which were killed by Kenyan security forces operating under the command of Jomo Kenyatta. They had returned to the forests in 1965 to fight against the new Kenyan government, claiming that independence only benefited pro-British collaborators and political moderates. Their bodies were paraded in Meru Township for three days as the "last chiefs of the Mau-Mau freedom terrorists". [3]
The Mau Mau rebellion (1952–1960), also known as the Mau Mau uprising, Mau Mau revolt, or Kenya Emergency, was a war in the British Kenya Colony (1920–1963) between the Kenya Land and Freedom Army (KLFA), also known as the Mau Mau, and the British authorities. Dominated by Kikuyu, Meru and Embu fighters, the KLFA also comprised units of Kamba and Maasai who fought against the European colonists in Kenya, the British Army, and the local Kenya Regiment.
The Kenya African Democratic Union (KADU) was a political party in Kenya. It was founded in 1960 when several leading politicians refused to join Jomo Kenyatta's Kenya African National Union (KANU). It was led by Ronald Ngala who was joined by Moi's Kalenjin Political Alliance, the Masai United Front, the Kenya African Peoples Party, the Coast African Political Union, Masinde Muliro's Baluhya Political Union and the Somali National Front. The separate tribal organisations were to retain their identity and so, from the very start, KADU based its political approach on tribalism. KADU's aim was to defend the interests of the so-called KAMATUSA as well as the British settlers, against the imagined future dominance of the larger Luo and Kikuyu that comprised the majority of KANU's membership, when it became inevitable that Kenya will achieve its independence. The KADU objective was to work towards a multiracial self government within the existing colonial political system. After release of Jomo Kenyatta, KADU was becoming increasingly popular with European settlers and, on the whole, repudiated Kenyatta's leadership. KADU's plan at Lancaster meetings was devised by European supporters, essentially to protect prevailing British settlers land rights.
Dedan Kimathi Waciuri was the leader of the Kenya Land and Freedom Army during the Mau Mau Uprising (1952–1960) against the British colonial rule in Kenya in the 1950s. He was captured by the British in 1956 and executed in 1957. Kenya gained independence in 1963. Kimathi is credited with leading efforts to create formal military structures within the Mau Mau, and convening a war council in 1953. He, along with Baimungi M'marete, Musa Mwariama, Kubu Kubu, General China and Muthoni Kirima, was one of the Field Marshals.
The Kikuyu Central Association (KCA), led by James Beauttah and Joseph Kang'ethe, was a political organisation in colonial Kenya formed in 1924 to act on behalf of the Gĩkũyũ community by presenting their concerns to the British government. One of its greatest grievances was the expropriation of the most productive land by British settlers from African farmers. Most members of the organisation were from the Gĩkũyũ tribe.
The Kenya African Union (KAU) was a political organization in colonial Kenya, formed in October 1944 prior to the appointment of the first African to sit in the Legislative Council. In 1960 it became the current Kenya African National Union (KANU).
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Kubu Kubu, born Njagi wa Ikutha, was an Embu Mau Mau leader and general. His nom de guerre, Kubu Kubu, means "heavy thud" in Kîembu, referencing to the thud his feet made due to his heavy build.
Ian Stuart McWalter Henderson, also known as Ian Stewart McWalter Henderson, was a British citizen known for his role in resolving the Mau Mau crisis in Kenya in the late 1950s and for managing the Bahraini General Directorate for State Security Investigations from 1966 to 1998. Henderson was dubbed the "Butcher of Bahrain" due to torture and the numerous human rights violations that were alleged to have taken place under his command there, especially during 1990s uprising in Bahrain.
The 1959 Hola massacre was a massacre committed by British colonial forces during the Mau Mau Uprising at a colonial detention camp in Hola, Kenya.
Kamiti Maximum Security Prison is a prison in Nairobi, Kenya. The prison is within Kasarani District, bordering Kiambu County. Originally named "Kamiti Downs", it sits in the middle of its own 490-hectare (1,200-acre) estates which lie fallow and untended.
The Kikuyu Home Guard was a government paramilitary force in Kenya from early 1953 until January 1955. It was formed in response to insurgent attacks during the Mau Mau Uprising.
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The Colony and Protectorate of Kenya, commonly known as British Kenya or British East Africa, was part of the British Empire in Africa from 1920 until 1963. It was established when the former East Africa Protectorate was transformed into a British Crown colony in 1920. Technically, the "Colony of Kenya" referred to the interior lands, while a 16 km (10 mi) coastal strip, nominally on lease from the Sultan of Zanzibar, was the "Protectorate of Kenya", but the two were controlled as a single administrative unit. The colony came to an end in 1963 when a native Kenyan majority government was elected for the first time and eventually declared independence.
Musa Mwariama (1928–1989) was a Kenyan revolutionary leader of the Mau Mau in Meru and the highest-ranking Mau Mau leader who survived the war without being killed or captured. Together with Field Marshal Dedan Kimathi, they comprised the core Mau Mau leadership. Mwariama was the highest ranking leader among the Meru side of the uprising.
Stanley Mathenge wa Mirugi was a Kenyan military leader during the Mau Mau rebellion.
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Operation Anvil was a British military operation during the Mau Mau Uprising where British troops attempted to remove suspected Mau Mau from Nairobi and place them in Langata Camp or reserves. The operation began on 24 April 1954 and took two weeks, at the end of which 20,000 Mau Mau suspects had been taken to Langata, and 30,000 more had been deported to the reserves.
Shiraz Durrani MBE is a British-Kenyan library science professional noted for his writings on the social and political dimensions of information and librarianship.
Kurito ole Kisio was a Mau Mau general who was killed in Narok, Kenya, in 1954. One of the lesser known leaders of the rebellion, Kisio was the highest ranking Mau Mau leader from the Maasai community. He fought alongside Turesh ole Tikani and Muntet ole Nkapiani. Although little is known about him today, Kisio's role in the freedom movement was important because it shows the Mau Mau Uprising was not a Kikuyu-only affair. According to Mau Mau chronicler Karari Njama, ole Kisio was the fourth most powerful man within Mau Mau ranks. He had an army of about 800 fighters operating from Melili Forest in Narok.
Wamuyu Gakuru, also known as Cinda Reri, was a Kenyan freedom fighter involved with the Mau Mau rebellion against British colonial forces.