Document Type

Article

Publication Date

Fall 9-1969

Publication Title

American Universities Field Staff Reports

Department

Geisel School of Medicine

Abstract

The July assassination of Tom Mboya was called in Europe the prelude to another African tragedy similar to Biafra. Western-style gangsterism seemed all too apparent, particularly just after the young Luo politician was shot down on a busy Nairobi street. Violence erupted at the hospital where Mboya's body was taken, and subsequently in other parts of the country. Four days later, when Kenya's President Mzee (Old Man) Jomo Kenyatta, a Kikuyu, arrived to attend the requiem mass, angry crowds of Luo tribesmen stoned the president's car and shouted "Dume" (bull), the symbol of Kenya's Luo-dominated opposition party, the Kenya People's Union (K.P.U.). In the subsequent mêlée with police, two died, sixty were injured, and three hundred arrested.

Original Citation

Miller, Norman. “Assassination and Political Unity: Kenya.” American Universities Field Staff Reports VIII.5 (1969): 1–13.

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