On this day, 20 January 1964, a battalion of around 1350 troops in Tanzania (then Tanganyika) mutinied in protest at low pay and at the fact that they were still commanded by British officers despite having gained independence two years previously.
The rebellion spread to a further battalion the next day, as rebels took European officers hostage and took control of key locations in Dar es Salaam including the radio station, airport and Telegraph office. Looting broke out, and trade unions planned to launch a general strike on 26 January.
On 25 January, the government of the socialist independence leader Julius Nyerere requested British troops to help suppress the revolt.
The next day, British commandos arrived and attacked the mutineers, while police arrested 200 people, including several union leaders and the general secretary of the Tanganyika Federation of Labour (TFL). British troops killed three soldiers and arrested hundreds more.
Mutinies with similar demands then also broke out in Uganda and Kenya, and again the new anti-colonial leaders requested assistance from British forces to suppress them.
Nyerere’s government subsequently broke up the TFL, replacing it with a state-run “union” whose role was to support government policies.
More info at https://libcom.org/library/1964-british-troops-put-down-mutinies-post-colonial-kenya-tanganyika-ugandahttps://www.facebook.com/workingclasshistory/photos/a.296224173896073/1329079497277197/?type=3
