Britain to pay £19.9m to Mau Mau uprising torture victims

Britain is to pay out £19.9 million in costs and compensation to more than 5,000 elderly Kenyans who suffered torture and abuse during the Mau Mau uprising in the 1950s.

Foreign Secretary William Hague told the House of Commons that the payment was being made in “full and final settlement” of a High Court action brought by five of the victims who suffered under the British colonial administration.

“We understand the pain and the grief felt by those who were involved in the events of emergency in Kenya. The British Government recognises that Kenyans were subjected to torture and other forms of ill-treatment at the hands of the colonial administration,” he said.

“The British Government sincerely regrets that these abuses took place and that they marred Kenya’s progress to independence. Torture and ill-treatment are abhorrent violations of human dignity which we unreservedly condemn.”

Mr Hague said Britain would also support the construction of a memorial in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, to the victims of torture and abuse during the colonial era.