ABSTRACT
During the 1950s Mau Mau Emergency in Kenya, British colonial security forces engaged in what they called "pseudo operations," whereby captured insurgents who had changed sides were used to infiltrate and eliminate active rebel units. A "pseudo team" directly by British police officer Ian Henderson captured Mau Mau leader Dedan Kimathi who was later tried and hanged. The Mau Mau would wake to find that they were being tied by the feet or covered by armed men who were no longer friendly. Mau Mau was not people to take chances with! It was like holding down a leopard – give it a chance to free its foot and you could be clawed to death. But not once throughout these operations did anyone escape. The Mau Mau practice of lying packed together like kernels on a corn cob sometimes made it very difficult for a team leader to extricate him without waking the gang.
