Before dawn one day last week, a detachment of Kenya cops, supported by armored cars, marched into Pumwani, a filth-strewn warren where a large part of Nairobi's 60-odd thousand Kikuyu somehow find space to live. Dragged from their mud huts, 20,000 Kukes were herded into compounds; 2,500 suspected Mau Mau terrorists were culled from among them and clapped into jail. Next day there were more arrests; another 3,500 "suspects" were seized near Thika.
The mass arrests were intended to forestall a rumored Mau Mau massacre, which Kenyans grimly referred to as "the Night of Long Knives." But the long knives...
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