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JRLeft

(7,010 posts)
Fri Oct 5, 2012, 02:55 PM Oct 2012

Mau Mau struggle for recognition at home and abroad

From the reaction of the Mau Mau veterans in Kenya, you might have been forgiven for thinking they had won their torture case against the UK government.

George Morara, of the Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC), took the call on his mobile phone.

Around him sat a group of elderly Kenyans, mostly men but some women too.

Wambuga wa Nyingi at the offices of the Kenya Human Rights Commission in Nairobi, Kenya on Friday 5 October 2012

"I hope that the British government will now pay us compensation” Wambugu wa Nyingi

When the announcement from London came through that they could proceed to a full trial despite the time elapsed, several dozen lined faces, etched from the experience of a long and often hard life, broke into beaming smiles. Octogenarians jumped up from their seats, linked arms and performed an impromptu dance through the gardens of the KHRC, which has been helping with claimants with their case which dates back to the Mau Mau uprising in the 1950s. "We are very pleased," said Wambugu wa Nyingi, one of the three Kenyans who brought the case.

He had been subjected to vicious beatings while in detention under colonial rule.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-19852463
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