Kenyans urge King Charles III to formally apologize for colonial-era abuses
2023/10/30
King Charles III speaks to guests, during a reception at Buckingham Palace for overseas guests attending his coronation, on Friday, May 5, 2023, in London. - Jacob King/WPA Pool/Getty Images North America/TNS
King Charles III didn’t receive the warmest of welcomes when he arrived in Kenya for a four-day state visit on Monday.
Calls are growing for the British monarch to make a heartfelt apology for colonial era abuses as he and Queen Camilla tour the east African country.
The tour is the first to a Commonwealth country since he succeeded his late mother, Queen Elizabeth, who died in September after a seven-decade reign.
Buckingham Palace announced that King Charles would “acknowledge the more painful aspects of the U.K. and Kenya’s shared history,” which includes the bloody Mau Mau rebellion of the 1950s.
He planned to dedicate some of the time to “deepen his understanding of the wrongs suffered in this period by the people of Kenya,” according to the palace statement.
Though Britain has given around $25 million in compensation in 2013 to Kenya, it still has not apologized for “the torture and other forms of ill-treatment at the hands of the colonial administration” — as then-Foreign Secretary William Hague stated. “The British government sincerely regrets that these abuses took place and that they marred Kenya’s progress to independence. Torture and ill-treatment are abhorrent violations of human dignity which we unreservedly condemn.”
Regarded as one of the most significant steps towards Kenya gaining freedom from British rule, armed Mau Mau groups revolted against European settlers in the 1950s. Colonial authorities imposed a state of emergency in response leaving about 10,000 people — mainly from the Kikuyu tribe— dead during the crackdown.
Some Kenyans have been outspoken in urging King Charles to go one step further and say sorry in a more formal way.
“Firstly, King Charles III, you need to stop choking on those two words, ‘I apologize.’ Just cough them up,” Harvard University professor and author Caroline Elkins wrote in an opinion piece for The Guardian on Sunday.
“They will probably trigger all sorts of liability issues for you and your government, but at last count, the monarchy is worth over £20 billion, so you could give several quid – some of which were stolen from or earned on the backs of colonized people – to the British taxpayer to cover this.”
Evelyn Wanjugu Kimathi, whose father was one of the leaders of the Mau Mau uprising, said there was hope that King Charles would bring “a national apology.”
“Once we have the goodwill from the U.K. government, everything else will be OK,” she told Agence France-Presse in early October.
On Monday, Kenyans gathered on Mau Mau road holding signs that read “Down with colonization, down” and “Return back our historical grabbed land.”
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© New York Daily News
2023/10/30
King Charles III speaks to guests, during a reception at Buckingham Palace for overseas guests attending his coronation, on Friday, May 5, 2023, in London. - Jacob King/WPA Pool/Getty Images North America/TNSKing Charles III didn’t receive the warmest of welcomes when he arrived in Kenya for a four-day state visit on Monday.
Calls are growing for the British monarch to make a heartfelt apology for colonial era abuses as he and Queen Camilla tour the east African country.
The tour is the first to a Commonwealth country since he succeeded his late mother, Queen Elizabeth, who died in September after a seven-decade reign.
Buckingham Palace announced that King Charles would “acknowledge the more painful aspects of the U.K. and Kenya’s shared history,” which includes the bloody Mau Mau rebellion of the 1950s.
He planned to dedicate some of the time to “deepen his understanding of the wrongs suffered in this period by the people of Kenya,” according to the palace statement.
Though Britain has given around $25 million in compensation in 2013 to Kenya, it still has not apologized for “the torture and other forms of ill-treatment at the hands of the colonial administration” — as then-Foreign Secretary William Hague stated. “The British government sincerely regrets that these abuses took place and that they marred Kenya’s progress to independence. Torture and ill-treatment are abhorrent violations of human dignity which we unreservedly condemn.”
Regarded as one of the most significant steps towards Kenya gaining freedom from British rule, armed Mau Mau groups revolted against European settlers in the 1950s. Colonial authorities imposed a state of emergency in response leaving about 10,000 people — mainly from the Kikuyu tribe— dead during the crackdown.
Some Kenyans have been outspoken in urging King Charles to go one step further and say sorry in a more formal way.
“Firstly, King Charles III, you need to stop choking on those two words, ‘I apologize.’ Just cough them up,” Harvard University professor and author Caroline Elkins wrote in an opinion piece for The Guardian on Sunday.
“They will probably trigger all sorts of liability issues for you and your government, but at last count, the monarchy is worth over £20 billion, so you could give several quid – some of which were stolen from or earned on the backs of colonized people – to the British taxpayer to cover this.”
Evelyn Wanjugu Kimathi, whose father was one of the leaders of the Mau Mau uprising, said there was hope that King Charles would bring “a national apology.”
“Once we have the goodwill from the U.K. government, everything else will be OK,” she told Agence France-Presse in early October.
On Monday, Kenyans gathered on Mau Mau road holding signs that read “Down with colonization, down” and “Return back our historical grabbed land.”
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© New York Daily News
2023/10/31
By Duncan Miriri
NAIROBI (Reuters) -Britain's tarnished colonial past took centre stage in Kenya on Tuesday as King Charles began a four-day state visit, poised to acknowledge "painful aspects" of the countries' long shared history as local leaders press demands for reparations.
Accompanied by Queen Camilla on his first visit as monarch to a former colony, Charles arrived in the capital Nairobi overnight.
On a rainy morning, he was welcomed to the Presidential Palace by a 21-gun salute and a guard of honour and, accompanied by President William Ruto, planted trees in the palace grounds. The royal couple then laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior in Uhuru Gardens, where Kenyan declared independence in December 1963.
Charles' visit comes at a time when former colonies are demanding that Britain do more to recognise the abuses of its colonial past. Some - notably Barbados and Jamaica - have been re-evaluating their ties to the monarchy.
While still heir to the throne, Charles surprised many at last year's summit of the Commonwealth - a voluntary association of countries that evolved from the British Empire - by acknowledging slavery's role in the organisation's roots.
Many citizens of former British colonies - including leaders of Kenya's Nandi people - want Charles to go further by directly apologising and endorsing reparations for colonial-era abuses, including torture, killings and widespread expropriation of land, much of which remains in British hands.
Buckingham Palace said the visit would "acknowledge the more painful aspects of the UK and Kenya's shared history, including the Emergency (1952-1960). His Majesty will take time ... to deepen his understanding of the wrongs suffered in this period by the people of Kenya."
'AFTER APOLOGIES... REPARATION'
During the 1952-1960 Mau Mau revolt in central Kenya, some 90,000 Kenyans were killed or maimed and 160,000 detained, the Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) has estimated.
The UK government has previously expressed regret for those abuses and agreed a 20 million pound ($24 million) settlement in 2013.
Nandi King Koitalel Arap Samoei led a decade-long rebellion until he was assassinated by a British colonel in 1905. In the ensuing years, the British confiscated most of his people's land and cattle.
Samoei's great-grandson Kipchoge araap Chomu credited the British with contributions to Kenya like education and public health systems but said historical injustices must be remedied.
"We have to demand public apology from the government of the British...," he told Reuters. "After apologies, we also expect a reparation."
Charles also plans to meet entrepreneurs from Kenya's bustling tech scene, tour wildlife facilities and travel to the southeastern port city of Mombasa.
($1 = 0.8226 pounds)
(Additional reporting by Aaron Ross and Hereward Holland; Writing by Hereward Holland; Editing by Aaron Ross, Michael Perry and John Stonestreet)
© Reuters
Reuters UK
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