Colonial era files could trigger compensation claims

Secret files documenting tactics to crush the anti-colonial Mau Mau uprisings in Kenya have been made public, coinciding with a test case in the High Court brought by four Kenyans over alleged human rights abuses in the 1950s and 1960s.

The Foreign Office revealed that it holds a vast cache of about 8,800 files from 37 former British Administrations. It is thought that the test case may inspire similar compensation claims from other former colonies.