Britain 'regrets' torture of Kenyans

NAIROBI, Kenya -- The wrinkled faces of the elderly Kenyans who gathered in a downtown Nairobi hotel registered gratitude, relief and joy Thursday as Britain's high commissioner said what many waited decades to hear.

Britain said it "sincerely regrets" the torture a British colonial government carried out against Kenyans fighting for liberation from colonial rule in the 1950s and 1960s.

Several thousand now-elderly Kenyans say they were beaten and sexually assaulted by officers acting for the British administration trying to suppress the "Mau Mau" rebellion, during which groups of Kenyans attacked British officials and white farmers who had settled in some of Kenya's most fertile lands.

In London, Foreign Secretary William Hague told the House of Commons the government recognizes that Kenyans were subject to torture and other ill treatment. Yesterday's settlement will pay about $21.5 million to the 5,200 Kenyans who were found to have been tortured, or about $4,100 per Kenyan victim. Another $9.25 million goes to pay costs to the Kenyans' legal team.

The simultaneous announcement in Kenya's capital took on the air of a tribal celebration. Several dozen elderly Kenyans clapped hands, swayed ever so slightly and sung joyful songs of struggle during a nearly two-hour news conference.