British Repression and Extermination Crimes against the Mau Mau Movement in Kenya, 1952–1960

Abstract

This study examines the history of British repression and extermination policies against the Mau Mau rebels in Kenya, with the aim of highlighting the scale of the crimes committed by Britain against the local population, whether individuals were directly or indirectly affiliated with the movement. The British colonial authorities employed some of the most brutal methods of repression against these populations, including killing, torture, mass arrest, and deportation, targeting hundreds of thousands of members of the Kikuyu tribe as well as other ethnic groups. They also suppressed every political activity associated with the movement. These measures were a response to the local populations demands for their rights and their resistance to colonial policies that dispossessed them of their lands and expelled them from their territories, subsequently granting these lands to white settlers for exploitation and control. Consequently, colonial repression became increasingly brutal, resulting in the killing of tens of thousands of people, the arrest of hundreds of thousands, and the starvation and interrogation of entire communities. Nor did the repression stop there; the British authorities also pursued a counter-propaganda policy aimed at distorting the image and reputation of the movements rebels throughout the world.