Also known as the Mau Mau Uprising, the Mau Mau Revolt, or the Kenya Emergency, the Mau Mau Rebellion was an armed decolonization conflict between the Kenya Land and Freedom Army (KLFA), also called the Mau Mau, and British colonial authorities. The conflict lasted eight years, beginning in 1952 and ending in 1960, and was marked by British and Mau Mau war crimes and mass violence. Though exact figures are unknown, an estimated 90,000 Kenyans were killed or injured during the conflict, and over 1,000,000 were forcibly detained.
Between 1901 and 1960, Britain claimed Kenya as a colony, violently forcing indigenous citizens to farm on plantations and culturally suppressing ethnic and religious groups. The Gĩkũyũ people were particularly impacted by the violently instated and cruelly maintained settler economy.
Several anti-colonist movements resisted British occupancy, such as the Nandi Resistance from 1895-1905, the Giriama Uprising of 1913–1914, the women's revolt in 1947, and the Kolloa Affray of 1950. However, the KLFA revolution was the most organized and significant, ultimately leading to the decolonization of Kenya.
In addition to economic inequality, the KLFA called for an independent Kenya and a representative democracy. In the early 1950s, The Mau Mau (the etymology of whose name is unclear) was an oath-taking organization of primarily Gĩkũyũ male and female fighters and strategists. The group organized a series of political assassinations, prompting the British authorities to declare a State of Emergency in Kenya. The group also waged an "information war," disseminating propaganda to combat colonial propaganda that painted the rebellion as a form of "perverted tribalism."
After finally taking the rebellions seriously, the British authorities responded with decisive and violent action, interning thousands of suspected Mau Mau sympathizers, and torturing and financially penalizing others. Britain suspended civil liberties in Kenya, and tens of thousands of Kenyans were interned in concentration camps, even more sequestered in "enclosed villages." To gain information, British authorities employed disturbing torture methods, including sexual assault and castration. The British and Mau Mau both massacred entire towns.
In 1956, the rebellion was "crushed" by British forces, and in January 1960, Kenya politically transitioned from colonial rule to independence. Scholars disagree on the extent of the rebellion's impact on decolonization and modern Kenyan politics.
In 1999, a group of former Mau Mau fighters filed a 5,000,000,000 pound claim against the British government for damages and war crimes, to no avail. However, throughout the 2000s, over 40,000 Kenyans sued the United Kingdom for compensation for crimes committed against native Kenyans during the Mau Mau Rebellion and colonial rule, including torture and detainment in prison camps.
