Nairobi, Kenya Nov 1 – King Charles III has expressed his sorrow for the atrocities that befell Kenyans during the colonial rule.
Speaking at Statehouse Nairobi in his four-day visit to Kenya, King Charles said that he acknowledges the complex relationship that United Kingdom and Kenya has owing to the evils that colonial regime did to Kenyan.
These evils includes but not limited to killings, maiming, force labor and eviction in their ancestral lands for settlers to set up plantations.
According to Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC), at least 90,000 Kenyans were killed or maimed and another 160,000 were detained.
The UK monarch said that he regret the wrongdoings of the colonial regime adding the the the atrocities were unjustifiable acts of violence.
“The wrongdoings of the past are a cause of the greatest sorrow and the deepest regret. There were abhorrent and unjustifiable acts of violence committed against Kenyans,” he said.
While outrightly avoiding to apologize, King Charles III said that his visit to Kenya is of importance for him to understand the ‘wrongs’ that the colonial regime did.
“In coming back to Kenya, it matters greatly to me that I should deepen my own understanding of these wrongs, and that I meet some of those whose lives and communities were so grievously affected,” he said.
“None of this can change the past. But by addressing our history with honesty and openness we can, perhaps, demonstrate the strength of our friendship today. And, in so doing, we can, I hope, continue to build a never-closer bond for the years ahead,” he added.
