16th Apr 11
peter
British Gazette readers may have heard that some former members of the Kenyan resistance group the Mau Mau are taking legal action against the British government for human rights abuses.
Perhaps a comparison of the respective oaths of the combatants may be instructive:
The oaths of the British servicemen:
“I, (Insert full name), do swear that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, her heirs and successors, according to law. So help me God.”
The oath (according to historian David Lovatt Smith) of the Mau Mau members:
“I promise to burn European crops and kill European cattle; steal firearms; if ordered to kill, will do so; having killed, will extract eyeballs and drink the liquid from them and cut the head off; I will particularly kill Europeans.”
What a delightful bunch!
stephen Hunt
April 16th, 2011 at 16:40
You have to wonder what drives any man to this state of hatred toward another group. If you torture my family I am going to get pretty nasty I suspect.
My history lessons at school spoke of tens of thousands of Kenyans being executed by the colonial power and over a hundred thousand detained in appalling conditions. I can remember that history lesson as though it were yesterday, it had a stunning affect on a 15 year old lad.
I just wonder how history looked at in another 60 years will be viewed.
Tony Butler
April 16th, 2011 at 17:22
We’ll be sued by members of the Gestapo, next.
I cannot, for the life of me, understand why we tolerate this abuse, from terrorists.
Anyone dealing with terrorists, nowadays, should shoot them. Dead men don’t sue.
james ngige ndicu
February 20th, 2012 at 15:30
How was a standardized and well organised army defeated ….???
By Field Marshall Dedan Kimathi and all other associates who led the resistance against the British to victory.
R.I.P
PROUD TO BE KENYAN