THE TASK
IN KENYA
THE silent, sullen threat represented by the Kikuyu tribesmen gathering in the inaccessible Aberdare Mountains dominates the scene in Kenya for the time being. Nobody can be sure whether these armed men, who must surely be driven out of their present quarters when the rains come, will be willing to return to peaceful and more civilised ways or whether they will emerge as even more powerful and virulent agents of infec- tion among discontented Africans. It does seem fairly certain that, so terrible is the Mau. Mau oath which they have all taken and which they have forced upon many of their unwilling neighbours, that none of them can be considered reliable until they have formally cleansed themselves of it. The present state of emergency can hardly be of short duration. Time will be needed for each of the three necessary phases referred to by the Colonial Secretary, Mr. Lyttelton, in Nairobi on Wednes- day—completion of police measures for the present emergency, return to normal in the Kikuyu reserves and long-term measures of social betterment. It will still be unsafe to assume that the danger is over until the very roots of Mau Mau savagery are severed, and seen to be severed. In all this outside observers must be impressed by a sense of helplessness, and they can only hope that the responsible officials on the spot are better able to see a way through the present troubles. Even those officials are finding the first task of collecting full information very difficult and delicate. Up till now the European settlers in Kenya have remained remarkably steady in the face of a very grave strain. Advocates of violent and sweeping measures to forestall similar outbreaks in Kenya or anywhere else in Africa are few. And it is hoped that the numerous, and not always well- informed or well-intentioned, observers of the African scene who are already attributing reactionary designs to the hard- pressed Europeans in Kenya will show equal restraint. The whole point is to narrow down the trouble and then eliminate it. It is bound to be a long process and it will be very difficult to secure a just balance between justice and mercy. No ring- leader who is caught and convicted can safely be treated with leniency. No school or newspaper which deliberately foments trouble and anti-European violence can be left completely free to continue its work of reaction. Every manifestation of the abominable Mau Mau practices must be stamped out. And all this must be done coolly and without vindictiveness.
