Kenya: ‘I presumed that we British were the good guys and we were trying to beat the bad guys. But then later I discovered that when we came to our own to struggle here, that wasn’t quite true.’ A Very British Way of Torture, man, Channel 4 2022
‘All of us were sucked into the vortex of violence where we really started to do indescribable things to each other.’ ibid.
‘The Mau Mau uprising is a freedom movement that takes place in Kenya in the 1950s.’ ibid. woman
‘But sides commit violent atrocities.’ ibid. man
For the first time, the release of documents a very much fuller account as to what had been done and why. ibid.
They are investigating how the British atrocities were institutionalised, and they were known from the top in London. ibid.
In 1952 the British colony in Kenya was thrown into crisis by a gang of freedom fighters called Mau Mau. They vowed to free Kenya from colonialism. Secret History s7e4: Mau Mau, Channel 4 1999
To the British the uprising was such an attack on colonialism that it justified any response, and that response when it came would be brutal and shocking. ibid.
It is Al-Qaeda’s first strike at America. Hundreds are killed by suicide bombs at two US embassies in Africa. CIA Declassified s1e6: Operation Celestial Balance, 2014
The terrorists are operating from a country [Kenya] that’s a no-go zone for the US. The top-secret mission: to infiltrate the most dangerous country in the world, deliver Operation Celestial Balance, and work with SEAL Team 6 to ensure that justice is done. ibid.
Nairobi, Kenya, 7th August 1998: Just after 10.30 a.m. a truck drives up to the US embassy, and instead of slowing at the barrier it accelerates. The final death toll is 12 Americans and 200 Kenyans. With over 4,000 injured. lmost simultaneously another suicide bomb explodes outside the US embassy in Dar es Salaam, the capital of the neighbouring country of Tanzania. ibid.
The CIA Nairobi station immediately get to work. ibid.
Kenya’s chaotic neighbour Somalia is the perfect safe haven for terrorists on the run. For years it’s been a no-go area for Americans thanks to the notorious Battle of Mogadishu five years earlier – the shooting down of a Blackhawk helicopter, and the drawn out rescue attempt that followed. ibid.
‘18 US Army Rangers were killed. Hundreds of Somalis died in that the US pulled out, and Somalia was left to its own devices for a number of years.’ ibid. comment
Suddenly a car explodes outside the hotel: 16 people are killed including 10 Kenyans and 3 Israelis; many more are injured. ibid.
Simultaneous coordinated attacks – the Al Qaeda signature. ibid.
The plot [plane into embassy] is foiled but it shows the CIA that al-Qaeda is maturing into a determined and well-resourced operation, and its protection in Magadishu is making it stronger every day. ibid.
The Warlords are now faking information and arresting innocent people just to keep the money rolling in. ibid.
It’s making the Americans even more unpopular on the streets of Magdishu. ibid.
Gang warfare erupts on the streets. ibid.
‘The Ethiopian Armed Forces invaded Somalia.’ ibid. comment
Operation Celestial Balance: The US Fifth Fleet is directed to wait off the Somali coast, silent miniaturized surveillance drones are launched to watch the roads running south out of Magadishu … Seal Team Six stationed on a nearby Destroyer now get their orders. The plan is simple: make an airborne assault … With a fix on [Saleh Ali Saleh] Nabhan, Seal Team Six moves and engages the Al Qaeda bomber, killing him. ibid.