Own worst enemy
Sir: In your Letters column (19/26 Decem- ber), Veronica Bellers quite rightly takes Taki to task for misrepresenting the casual- ties suffered during the course of the Mau Mau rebellion. As a small footnote, your readers might like to know that while the majority of killings were perpetrated by the Kikuyu on their own tribe, the security forces and indeed European civilians suf- fered far less than is generally known.
As I understand it, only 32 Europeans were murdered during the course of the emergency. Likewise, only 32 European soldiers were killed in action. What is a sur- prising fact, though, is that 19 of those were shot by their own side; proving, if nothing else, that British army training was not all that it might be. I know this because I was there.
Leo Cooper
The Chantry, Sisley, near Stroud, Gloucestershire
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