One of the other great African liberation success stories happened in Kenya. During the period of British imperialism, native African tribes lost their agricultural lands in the northern highlands, their fundamental rights and their culture. Many Africans faced financial hardship, and the natives became impatient with the slow pace of growth and political, social, and economic change that had been promised by the English. African tribes saw the constant marginalization they faced and decided to form rebel groups like the Mau Mau to remove the British government imposed in Kenya. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essayA rebellion began in the 1950s between the Mau Mau and the British government. The Mau Mau targeted British colonists and African chiefs who were sympathetic to the government. They consisted mainly of the Kikuyu tribe and their members were mainly farmers who had lost their agricultural lands. The Mau Mau headquarters were on Mount Kenya, in the Aberdares, and on the outskirts of Nairobi since the British government had banned their group's freedom of assembly. The Mau Mau became the turning point in the struggle for independence. They resorted to using guerrilla tactics against the British. They joined other groups during police raids to collect firearms and rob shops, because this was the only way to obtain weapons to use in their rebellions. The Mau Mau also burned British properties, such as the Treetops Hotel. The Mau Mau were known for their oaths, which they forced members of the Kikuyu tribe to take, to pledge their loyalty to the Mau Mau cause and their willingness to remove the British. rule. The property of those who rejected the Mau Mau oath was burned and their livestock mutilated. Descriptions of the Mau Mau oath vary, but many of the procedures were atrocious. These procedures included removing clothing, donating one's own blood, consuming animal organs, consuming mixtures with animal blood, soil, and other liquids from a pumpkin, and consuming human flesh. Oath traitors were executed by the Mau Mau through methods of beheading, torture, and hanging. During a rebellion on October 7, 1952, Chief Waruhui, who had opposed the increasing aggression of the Mau Mau, was impaled in the midst of a major uprising. road outside Nairobi. The British saw these attacks as a threat to the government and enacted a law isolating Kikuyu territory from other parts of Kenya, to limit the movement of the Mau Mau. The death penalty was imposed by the British-Kenyan government on those who took the Mau Mau oath at knifepoint, because the oath was a powerful Mau Mau weapon against the British. After the assassination of Chief Waruhui in October 1952, the British-controlled government declared a state of emergency that lasted until 1960. A curfew was imposed on the outskirts of Nairobi, and British colonists created commando units and sent troops to fight the Mau Mau. The British-Kenyan government launched coordinated dawn raids in which they arrested suspected Mau Mau activists, many of them innocent. Kikuyu settlements were burned if suspected of involvement with the Mau Mau, and people were evicted from their homes to clear space for a war zone. The British also established a “free fire zone” where there were no restrictions on the use of weapons and Africans could be shot and killed on sight. Rewards were given to army or police units that at the end of the.
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