General China, Once Reviled by Whites, Wins Respect of Sort Given Old Soldiers - General China, whose name once provoked revulsion and contempt from white men here, has just published his memoirs, like any old respected soldier. The event was another step in the rehabilitation of the image of the Mau Mau. Ten years ago, or even five years ago, it would have been inconceivable for General China to have launched his memoirs at a reception attended by ministers, ambassadors and respected publishers. General China, whose real name is Waruhiu Itote, was a leader of the Mau Mau fighters in the forests of Mt. Kenya from 1952 to 1954. Mau Mau had an image of bestiality and terror then. To Europeans and most Africans here, and in fact to most people throughout the world, Mau Mau meant a barbaric uprising by Kikuyu tribesmen in the 1950s against the white rulers of Kenya, an uprising that overstepped the normal bounds of insurrection because of stark primitiveness, the obscene savagery, the wild-eyed ruthlessness of the heathen natives. The image was painted vividly by Hollywood and Robert Ruark. Of course, the image had to change somewhat when Kenya became independent in 1963. After all, the new president, Jomo Kenyatta, had been convicted by the colonial courts of planning and leading the Mau Mau uprising...

related Stanley Meisler articles by topic: