From the tangled, blue fastness of the Aberdare Mountains, a Mau Mau leader named Simba ("The Lion") wrote last week to a white settler: "I have just returned from a course for brigadiers in Abyssinia, and have under my command one division of 12,000 men, 400 machine guns, 300 Bren guns, 100 Sten guns, 10,000 rifles and 40 mortars . . . I could wipe out 50 battalions . . ." Next day, with a band of hand-picked warriors, he struck hard at the settler's estate.
In the dark context of Kenya's bushfire "emergency," this was a mere border skirmish. But...
To continue reading:
or
Log-In
