2023-10-11 17:31:11
Charles III in Kenya
“If he doesn’t come to apologize, then he shouldn’t come.”
As the monarch’s visit to Kenya approaches, scheduled for the end of the month, many voices are calling for a strong gesture from the British crown in the face of the crimes of the colonial era.
PublishedOctober 11, 2023, 7:31 p.m.
The king’s visit to Kenya will take place as the country prepares to celebrate the 60th anniversary of its independence.
King Charles III was called on Wednesday to offer a “national apology” for atrocities committed during the British colonial era in Kenya during his visit to the East African country scheduled for later this month.
More than 10,000 dead
Buckingham added that the king’s visit will also be an opportunity, among other things, to discuss “the most painful aspects of the common history of the United Kingdom and Kenya” in the years preceding independence. Between 1952 and 1960, more than 10,000 people were killed in Kenya following the Mau Mau revolt against colonial power, one of the bloodiest repressions of the British Empire.
“Freedom fighters
After a legal process lasting several years, the UK agreed in 2013 to compensate more than 5,000 Kenyans for their treatment during the uprising, totaling almost £20 million (23 million francs). “Her Majesty will take time during the visit to deepen her understanding of the wrongs suffered by the Kenyan people during this period,” the palace added.
“We hope that he will present a national apology,” retorted Evelyn Wanjugu Kimathi, the daughter of resistance leader Dedan Kimathi, hoping that this visit will help “close” this chapter. “Everything else will be fine” after the British government has shown “its goodwill” on this issue, she added. This woman, at the head of a foundation defending the interests of veterans of the War of Independence and active on environmental issues, also expressed the hope that London would help her country locate the graves of “freedom fighters “. This research also concerns the grave of his father, who was hanged in 1957 at Kamiti Prison in Nairobi, but whose remains have not yet been found.
No more “colonial master”
The king’s visit to Kenya, at the invitation of Kenyan President William Ruto, will take place as Kenya prepares to celebrate the 60th anniversary of its independence, proclaimed on December 12, 1963. Charles III’s first visit as king will take place “in the country in which the reign of Queen Elizabeth II has begun”, in February 1952, underlined Buckingham Palace. Then princess, she was in Kenya as part of a tour of the Commonwealth when her father King George VI died.
Other Kenyans expressed hope that this visit will help usher in a new era in relations with London. The king “is welcome in Nairobi, but as someone with whom we can negotiate shared development, not as a colonial master,” said teacher Kamau Njoroge, 49.
(AFP)Show comments
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