King's African Rifles

The King's African Rifles was a British colonial auxiliary regiment raised in 1902 from Britain's East African colonies. Its enlisted soldiers were drawn from the native African population, while most of its officers were seconded from the British Army. It was formed by the amalgamation of the Central Africa Regiment, the East Africa Rifles and the Uganda Rifles into six battalions, with one or two located in each of Nyasaland, Kenya, Uganda and British Somaliland. Its main duty was internal security within these colonies, alongside service elsewhere in the two world wars and in conflicts such as the Malayan Emergency and the Mau Mau uprising. In the 1960s, as Africa decolonised, more African officers were commissioned and the regiment was gradually disbanded, and its battalions went on to form the core of the armed forces of the newly independent East African states.