\u201cYou can\u2019t afford,\u201d Kenyatta was told by Duncan Sandys, then-Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

But he was assured, verbally, that Britain would come to Kenya\u2019s aid in case it was attacked by Somalia.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

This was what was known as \u201cSandys Understanding\u201d, and it meant different things to different people.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

While some British policymakers saw it as a vague commitment to a new member of the Commonwealth, Jomo Kenyatta thought it was a sound commitment \u2013 something he could rely on.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

This was actually reflected in a paper prepared by a Kenyatta-chaired government committee in January 1966 and which partly, and wrongly, noted that \u201cthe British ground attack aircraft would be available to support the Kenya Army within 24 hours, and that limited ground forces would start arriving within 48 hours of Somali regular forces violating our frontier\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Months after this meeting in Nairobi, President Kenyatta sent his Minister for Agriculture and Animal Husbandry, Bruce McKenzie, to London for talks with British Defence Secretary Denis Healey \u2013 the man who later nicknamed Margaret Thatcher \u201cRhoda the Rhino\u201d \u2013 perhaps because he was the only Kenyan who could handle a politician regarded as a \u201cbully\u201d and with \u201csilkily lethal insults\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

MISINTERPRETATION<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
On Somalia, Healy did not help much, and records dated May 24, 1966 indicate that when McKenzie asked him about \u201cSandys Understanding\u201d, he said that Her Majesty\u2019s Government was \u201csympathetic (but) an unwritten obligation was not a meaningful concept in international relations\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
This made Kenyatta and his inner circle panic, for they knew that on Somalia, they were on their own and that their interpretation on British commitment was, perhaps, wrong.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Again, despite the public bravado, Jomo knew that the Kenyan army, then, was no match for President Aden Osman\u2019s army.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
President Osman had declared categorically that no diplomatic initiative would be undertaken with Kenya.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
He turned to the people he trusted most on clandestine work: Kanu insider Joe Murumbi, Attorney General Charles Njonjo, Bruce McKenzie and Finance Minister James Gichuru.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
In order to understand what \u201cSandys Understanding\u201d meant, President Kenyatta sent McKenzie and Njonjo to meet with British Prime Minister Harold Wilson on November 11, 1966, who had won the general election that March.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
MILITARY PACT<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Wilson listened to the two, and what was previously known as \u201cSandys Understanding\u201d was to be formalised through a letter that was to be delivered to President Kenyatta.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Njonjo had told the Prime Minister that he was \u201cnot seeking a formal undertaking, but an informal assurance that if Kenya asked for British help if they came under attack from Somalia, this help would be forthcoming\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
It was more of some personal assurance, and the British handling the matter in London seemed happy to bypass the High Commission in Nairobi.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
The Kenyatta Cabinet had been made to believe that such a military pact actually existed but in essence, it wasn\u2019t there.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
McKenzie actually told the British Prime Minister, according to archival records, that \u201capart from President Kenyatta, Njoroge Mungai, Njonjo and himself, the entire Kenya Cabinet believed there was already a pact\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
But in the British records, the \u201cSandys Undertaking\u201d did not exist as a document. And as the Somalia crisis continued, some officials had tried to look for any record to no avail.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
ASSISTANCE<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Two months after the Harold Wilson meeting with McKenzie and Njonjo, another secret meeting was called with George Thomas, the UK Minister of State, Commonwealth Office.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
This meeting took place on January 13, 1967 in London and it was to turn Sandys oral assurance into a document.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
It was attended by McKenzie, Gichuru and scholars of British foreign policy, who now argue that the push was for a \u201cboite de papier \u2013 anonymous and completely informal\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
In essence, \u201cthe British civil servants were trying to achieve the impossible \u2013 a non-committal commitment\u201d, according to one scholar.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
What we now know is that a formal note was written and on January 25, 1967, the British High Commissioner in Nairobi, Edward Peck, flew to Mombasa and went to Kenyatta\u2019s Bamburi home where he delivered the written assurance that is today known as the \u2018Bamburi Understanding\u2019.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
It simply said: \u201cIf Kenya were the victim of outside aggression by Somalia, the British government would give the situation most urgent consideration. While the British government cannot in advance give the Kenya government any assurance of automatic assistance, the possibility of Britain going to Kenya\u2019s assistance in the event of an organised and unprovoked attack by Somalia is precluded.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
RENEGOTIATION<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
It was a personal undertaking from Harold Wilson to Jomo Kenyatta, and when he lost the election to Edward Heath of Conservative party in June 1970, the Kenyans were thrown back to the drawing board.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Once again, McKenzie \u2013 who had now left the Kenyatta Cabinet \u2013 organised another meeting for Charles Njonjo to visit No. 10 and meet Heath \u201cthrough the Cabinet office\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office had told the new Prime Minister\u2019s office that Njonjo was carrying a letter from Kenyatta asking \u201cfor a reaffirmation by the present government of the Bamburi Understanding\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\u201cThe Kenyans attach great importance to the Bamburi Understanding, and President Kenyatta greatly values the personal contact with the Prime Minister, which he feels is available to him. As he cannot leave Kenya, he can only operate by sending one of his senior ministers with a personal message. Njonjo is a lawyer with a retentive mind and will report back faithfully to President Kenyatta everything that is said to him,\u201d said the memo from FCO to Prime Minister\u2019s office.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
In a note McKenzie had written to former British High Commissioner, Peck, he said it was Kenyatta\u2019s wish that now that a Conservative government was in power \u201cthe understanding could be renegotiated\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
FUNDING<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
But London wanted to keep it \u201cvague and non-committal\u201d \u2013 at least from their side \u2013 and McKenzie also took time to remind the UK that they had been given RAF facilities in Kenya and that their army was training in Nanyuki.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
But the British did not want to link these facilities to the Bamburi Understanding.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\u201cVarious defence facilities which we enjoy are not of course granted to us in the context of Bamburi and it is quite wrong for McKenzie to suggest that they are,\u201d said senior diplomat E.G. Le Tocq of the East African department to Sir E. Norris, the British High Commissioner to Kenya.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
After Heath lost his seat to Wilson in February 1974, both Njonjo and McKenzie flew again to London to assess Kenya\u2019s military needs and they took with them the British High Commissioner, Anthony Duff.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
By this time, the military build-up in Somalia had increased and there was notable Soviet presence in Mogadishu and Yemen, which terrified Kenyatta.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Kenya, according to then-estimates, required \u00a3150 million as capital expenditure for the armed forces.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
But it could only afford \u00a320 million, 90 per cent of which was funded by Britain on credit terms.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
CONSPIRACY<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
But before Harold Wilson could help Kenyatta, he resigned on March 16, 1976 \u2013 the victim of a vicious KGB dirty campaign. The “Plot Against Harold Wilson”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
If you have read Spycatcher<\/em>, Wilson was the victim of an illegal campaign by security agents and he was deemed to be a Soviet agent \u2013 which was a lie.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
He later fell after an anti-Wilson propaganda was carried out through the media, giving way to James Callaghan.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Kenyatta was again eager to make sure that Callaghan knew about the Bamburi Understanding and that is why on May 14, 1976, Callaghan had a meeting with Njonjo in London. It was urgent.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Callaghan was hardly two months in office and on his desk was a Foreign and Commonwealth background note with a header – \u201cBamburi Understanding\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
WAY FORWARD<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
That note is today shelved at the British archives in Kew Gardens \u2014 and is an important document on what British thought of Kenya\u2019s crisis with Somalia, or rather the secret assurance that Jomo Kenyatta got about Somalia.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
What we see in all these is that the Bamburi Understanding was driving Kenya\u2019s relations with UK, and that a small circle of friends was privy to the details.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
In essence, the Somalia issue had allowed Kenyatta to shape his relations with UK. But if he got anything out of it is hard to tell. Years later, Kenya had to turn to the US for military aid.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Uhuru Kenyatta is now facing another Somalia headache; what can he do?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Jkamau@ke.nationmedia.com @johnkamau1<\/em><\/p>\n
Source:<\/strong> The Nation<\/p>\n
Hadalsame Media<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
(Hadalsame) 29 Sebt 2019 – Somalia seems to be President Uhuru Kenyatta\u2019s current headache. And it is not an easy task handling a troublesome neighbour, as Uhuru\u2019s father found out before him. Uhuru might need the wisdom of his father and tough under-the-table diplomatic dealings to handle the current border issue. His father\u2019s foreign policy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":34948,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.hadalsame.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/b-218.jpg?fit=1024%2C821&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9Xl2P-95F","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hadalsame.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34947"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hadalsame.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hadalsame.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hadalsame.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hadalsame.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34947"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.hadalsame.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34947\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34949,"href":"https:\/\/www.hadalsame.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34947\/revisions\/34949"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hadalsame.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34948"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hadalsame.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34947"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hadalsame.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34947"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hadalsame.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34947"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}