Examiner (Launceston, Tas. : 1900 - 1954), Tuesday 4 November 1952, page 6


IMPRIOVEMENT IN KENYA

AS RESULT OF EMg~ERGENC LAWS NAIROBI (A.A.P.).-The situation in Kenya had been noticeably improved since a state of emergency was declared, said the Briti h Colonial Secretary (Mr. Oliver Lyttleton) on Sunday.

MR. LYTTLETON was confirming a statement by a Kenya Government spokesman who said there was evidence that proper respect for law and order was increasing in many parts of African reserves. Referring to the Mau Mau anti-white Terrorist Society, Mr. Lyttleton said it was

quite wrong to link it directly to economic causes. Mau Mau, he said, was anti-European and antiChristian and had certain features which followed "a pattern which is painfully familiar in many other parts of the world." Mr. Lyttleton said there was no similarity between disturbances in Kenya and Malaya, but the pattern in Africa showed the same signs of infiltration methods and the formation of cells which had been seen elsewhere. Police on Sunaay carried out fresh sweeps in the forest "strongholds" of Mau Mau, but no details were released. Eighty-seven Mau Mau suspects were held when 4000 Africans were "screened" at Nanyuki, 100 miles north of Nairobi, on Saturday. The Kenya Government spokesman, in reviewing the anti - terrorist operation "Jock Scott" on Sunday said the first phase-arrests of people considered to be mainly responsible for unrest using Mau Mau for "subversive ends" was satistorily completed in a few days. The second phase-the regrouping of military police forces and their deployment in the principal disturbed areas-had been begun. The major task will be to root out Mau Mau elements by vigorous patrolling. Meanwhile, the African National Congress has

threatened to call a general strike in Cape Province, accompanied by praying and fasting by all non-whites and "progressive Eurocans." The proposed strike is against the Port Elizabeth City Council plan to ban all open-air meetings of Africans except religious ones, and to impose a curfew. Port Elizabeth was the scene of a race riot on October 18, when 11 people were killed. At Bloemfontein, 20 Africans were arrested on Sunday for breaking curfew regulations.