Hola massacre

The Hola Massacre is an event that took place shortly after the end of the Mau Mau Uprising against British colonial rule in Hola, Kenya.

Event

In the Hola detention camp located in Hola, Coast Province.

The prisoners were "the last hard-core remnants of Mau Mau terrorism" [Time (June 8, 1959) http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,892578-1,00.html ] who had "taken the bloody oaths" [Time (June 8, 1959) http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,892578-1,00.html ] , "had killed" [Time (June 8, 1959) http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,892578-1,00.html ] and were "warped by their savagery" [Time (June 8, 1959) http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,892578-1,00.html ] .

On March 3 1959, 85 prisoners were marched outside and ordered to work. They suddenly [Time (June 8, 1959) http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,892578-1,00.html ] refused to take orders. There were about 200 guards, who began beating the prisoners for 3 to 4 hours. When the assault had concluded, 11 prisoners had been beaten to death and around 60 others were seriously injured.

Reactions

There was a conscious effort by the prison officials to cover up the event at Hola. They claimed that the dead prisoners had drunk contaminated water. [Roth, Andrew. (May 14, 2004) The Guardian " [http://politics.guardian.co.uk/politicsobituaries/story/0,1441,1216588,00.html Obituary: Sir John Peel - Tory MP whose colonial cast of mind outlived the empire.] "

] The truth came out however, as the result of an inquest by a member of the colonial judiciary. As soon as findings were made public, the opposition in England issued a motion condemning Hola.

The camps were closed throughout Kenya, and the prisoners were freed soon after. [The Daily Nation (April 15, 2004) " [http://www.ogiek.org/indepth/special-report-2.htm Kikuyu hammered on the Anvil.] "] The Wolverhampton South MP, Enoch Powell, had spoken in tears of the atrocities carried out at Hola, such was his sense of injustice and outrage at the dent to Britain's good nameFact|date=June 2007.

ee also

* Tom Askwith

Notes

References

*Time (June 8, 1959) " [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,892578-1,00.html The Hola Scandal] "
* Kabukuru, Wanjohi. (December 1, 2003) New African " [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5002572591&er=deny Kenya: The Hola massacre] " Page 34.
*Clayton, Anthony. (1976) African Affairs ' [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0001-9909(197804)77%3A307%3C261%3ACIK1AS%3E2.0.CO%3B2-1 Counter Insurgency in Kenya: A Study of the Military Operations against the Mau Mau.] " Transafrica Publishers. ISBN 0-89745-061-2
*Mburu, Stephen. (April 30, 2000) The Daily Nation " [http://www.nationaudio.com/News/DailyNation/30042000/Comment/Special_Report2.html How detention was used to break people.] "
*Nissimi, Hilda. (Spring 2006) Journal of Military and Strategic Studies " [http://www.jmss.org/2006/2006spring/articles/MauMau.pdf Mau Mau and the decolonisation of Kenya.] " Publisher: Centre for Military and Strategic Studies, Canadian Defence & Foreign Affairs Institute. Vol. 8, Issue 3.
*Preston, Peter. (January 16, 2005) The Observer " [http://observer.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,6903,1391329,00.html Our Guantánamo.] "
*Simpson, Brian. (Spring, 2002) Oxford Journal of Legal Studies " [http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=821657 The Devlin Commission (1959): Colonialism, Emergencies, and the Rule of Law.] " Page. 17.
*Slaughter, Barbara. (September 15, 1999) Hartford Web Publishing " [http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/36/026.html How Britain crushed the ‘Mau Mau rebellion’; Channel Four TV's Secret History—Mau Mau.] "
*The Daily Nation (April 22, 2004) " [http://www.ogiek.org/indepth/special-report-3.htm Horrors of Hola detention camp.] "
*The Daily Nation (April 8, 2004) " [http://www.ogiek.org/indepth/special-report-1.htm The road to blood bath at Hola Camp.] "