Kenya (Differently)

Democratic Republic of Kenya
Timeline: Differently
OTL equivalent: Republic of Kenya
Democratic Republic of KenyaTimeline: Differently ; OTL equivalent: Republic of Kenya
	Flag
	Motto: ; For Democracy!
	Anthem: ; "E Mungu Nguvu Yetu"; "O God of all creation";
	Location of Kenya in southern Africa
Capital; (and largest city)	Nairobi
Official languages	English, Swahili
Religion	96.4% Christian; 3.6% Traditional Faiths
Demonym(s)	Kenyan
Government	Marxist-Bernsteinist Presidential Republic
Legislature	Kenyan Parliament
Establishment
Area
Population
Drives on the	left

Kenya, officially the Democratic Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south-east and borders Tanzania to the south, Uganda to the west, Ethiopia to the north, and Somalia to the north-east. Kenya gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1961 following a successful Communist revolution. In 1975, the military overthrew the socialist government and installed a repressive military junta which styled itself as a "presidential republic". Kenya was in a state of civil war from 2014 to 2021 when the military government collapsed and the socialist regime returned to power.

Its surface area of 580,367 square kilometers makes Kenya the 19th-largest country in Africa and the 49th-largest in the world. With a population of over 47.5 million inhabitants, it is the sixth-most populous country in Africa and the 34th in the world.

History[]

British Colonization (1895 - 1961)[]

The British would officially incorporate Kenya into the East Africa Protectorate in 1895 as part of the Scramble for Africa. The British were able to conquer Kenya easily due to the lack of organized resistance from the local tribes and kingdoms within the area. The colony of Kenya itself would not be created until the 11th of June, 1920 when the territories of the former East Africa Protectorate which were not annexed by the UK were established as a British Protectorate.

During the Great War, Britain would send many troops from the African colonies, including Kenya, would be sent into Europe to fight in the Great War and also fight in Africa against the Germany colonies on the continent. Due to racism within the British military, many of the Kenyan soldiers were underpaid for their efforts as 20,000 Kenyan soldiers returned home with no money and PTSD from the war they had experienced. On top of this, a majority of Kenyans lived in poverty while the British governor of Kenya continued to make obscene amounts of money off of Kenya's natural resources.

It was these conditions of income inequality as well as the inspiration of the Communist Revolution in Jamaica against British authority in the 1950s which would lead to a massive uprising in Nairobi in June of 1961. The British troops, overwhelmed and underprepared, open fired on the uprising, causing bloodshed in the process. This event sparked the Kenyan Revolution.

Kenyan Socialist Republic (1961 - 1975)[]

Kenyan Revolution + Socialist Republic[]

Following the bloodshed in Nairobi, uprisings would continue in other parts of the country as the Kamba and the Maasai tribes would join in on the rebellion on the Kenyan Coast. The Party was led by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, a left wing revolutionary and author. With the British brutality being shown at Nairobi, the rebellion overwhelmed the British forces and the British had pulled out of Kenya by 1961.

Unlike the Marxist-Leninist states which dominated Eurasia during the Cold War, Kenya alligned more towards Market Socialism and Marxism-Bernsteinism rather than follow the Marxist-Leninist doctrine of the Soviet Union. As a result, Kenya allowed secularism rather than state-atheism and a parliamentary democracy (though only explicitly socialist parties were allowed to participate). Kenya remained non-aligned in the Cold War and instead focused on nationalizing natural resources in Kenya.

1975 Coup D'etat + The rise of the Kibochi regime[]

While the socialist government in Kenya remained non-alligned in the Cold War, it developed a tense relationship with the United Kingdom as the Kenyan government began the process of nationalizing several key industries such as the mining of limestone, gemstones, diamonds, and other luxury resources. This would lead to members of the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) contacting Kenyan general Robert Kibochi in an attempt to bribe him and the military to overthrow the Thiong'o regime in exchange for trade with Britain.

On April 10th, 1975, the Kenyan military under Robert Kibochi would march into the city of Nairobi and surround the parliament building. While Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o escaped, the rest of the parliament didn't and the socialist government was forced to surrender. Kibochi then proclaimed himself President and established the Free State of Kenya.

Free State of Kenya (1975 - 2021)[]

Pre-Civil War (1975 - 2014)[]

Upon assuming office, President Kibochi spent much of the early years of the junta conducting purges in the government and among the citizenry to arrest and blacklist socialist and anti-government sympathizers. From 1975 to 1980, it is estimated around 80,000 Kenyans were arrested during this reign of terror with an estimated 5,000 of which were killed in the prison camps. Many governments such as the United Kingdom turned a blind eye as they largely benefitted from the free trade provided by the Kibochi government.

Among other notable things, Robert Kibochi is well known for having an eccentric obsession for Roman military history and the Roman Empire as a whole. Having studied in Rome, Kibochi often appropriated the aesthetics of Rome for his government. Kenya's flag was changed to include an olive wreath which was often worn by Roman Emperors as a crown. Kibochi also changed the country's motto to the Latin phrase "Vendi, vidi, vici", renamed the parliament to the Senate, had marble busts made of himself,and changed the Kenyan Coat of Arms to be distinctly Roman. These actions were mocked by the international community as a whole with many people viewing Kibochi as a Roman roleplayer rather than a serious ruler.

Following the collapse of Somalia in 1987, the Free State of Kenya would begin to assert itself over the newly formed Republic of Mogadishu. The Kenyan military would regularly walk into Mogadishu's border villages with little to no resistance and would seize weapons, resources, and livestock from nearby villages. Kenya and Mogadishu would continue to have border conflicts which lasted until Somalia reunified in 2005 and relations were normalized between the two countries.

30kenya — Protests in Nairobi turn violent (2014)

While the Free State would experience an economic boom in the 1980s through free trade with the British, the Kenyan economy would experience economic decline as investors would withdraw from Kenya and focus more on human rights-friendly governments in Africa such as Djibouti and Ethiopia. This economic stagnation lasted through the 1990s and the 2000s. By the 2010s, the economic stagnation had become unbearable for a majority of Kenyan citizens who took to the streets to protest the government. In a speech in 2013, President Kibochi proclaimed that the economic stagnation was being caused by socialists sabotaging the economy from within led by the exiled Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o and announced a second major purge to take place throughout 2013.

Upon the announcement of another purge, several Kenyan citizens took to the streets with portions of the military defecting in favor of the rioters. By January of 2014, the riots had escalated into full on civil war as gunfire had been exchanged between both sides.

Kenyan Civil War (2014 - 2021)[]

In early 2014, a rebel group known as the Coalition for Kenyan Democracy would capture the Kenyan coastal city of Mombasa with the support of defectors from both the Kenyan army and Kenyan navy. By mid-2014, the Kenyan military would begin a siege of Mombasa in an attempt to starve out the rebels present in the city.

Highway of Death 1991 — The A109 Highway following the bombing campaign against Coalition forces

Despite the shortcomings of the Coalition , other rebels were able to make gains in the capital city of Nairobi itself, with a group of socialist rebels being able to seize control of the neighborhood of Shauri Moyo on January 18th, 2015 to proclaim the Nairobi Commune. The communards were able to conduct several ambushes against Nairobi police and also did some damage to the nearby Moi Airbase, with several communard rioters being able to destroy 2 fighter jets stationed within the airbase before reinforcements would gun them down. The communard revolution provided an opportunity for the coalition forces in Mombasa to break the siege by pushing through the Free State's forces to the east and pushing along side the A109 Highway system, capturing the cities of Mariakani and Mazeras in the process. Kibochi, fearing that the coalition would use route A109 to enter the capital Nairobi. This would result in a bombing campaign lasting from June 2015 to October 2015 which destroyed much of the A109 Highway as well as many of the smaller roads such as the C107. These bombings were successful in stopping advancements by rebel forces, stunting expansion and forcing the coalition to stick towards the Kenyan coast. This would be recognized as an atrocity by the international community and result in lots of sanctions on Kenya, harming the Kiobochi government in the process with the Free State of Kenya's only remaining suppliers being the Swartist Brotherhood. By the end of 2015, the Nairobi Commune had been crushed and it seemed a government victory had become inevitable.

By 2016, General Busara Jones and a group of pro-Socialist military defectors revolt in the northern part of the country. Jones was a top ranking member of the military in both the Socialist Republic and Free State of Kenya. The rebel group styled themselves as the Kenyan People's Army and seized the city of Lodwar and several airplanes and fighter jets from the Lodwar Airport. By June 19th, 2016; the People's Army had seized all lands surrounding Lake Turkana, controlling all lands north of South Horr and west of Marsabit. Meanwhile, the Coalition for Kenyan Democracy would be successful in capturing the city of Garsen on October 2nd, 2016; landing a decisive victory against the Free State's army. The battle of Garsen would mark a turning point where the Free State government would begin to lose the civil war. With the seizing of Lodwar and the Lodwar Airport, the People's Army would begin bombing the Free State's positions in the Lake Naivasha region, this harmed the Free State's supply lines along the A104 highway.

By 2017, the People's Army would begin a massive offensive southwards, capturing the city of Eldoret while gaining air superiority over much of Northwestern Kenya. The Coalition struggled on the other hand as they were forced to defend Gorsen from siege by the Free State which began a campaign against the Coalition in the South with the goal of crushing the coalition in the South in 2017 and the Communists of the North in 2018. As a result, Kibochi tripled the number of forces on the front against the Coalition and began a massive push towards Mombasa. Due to the previous bombing of highway A109, the Free State's army struggled to move through the rough terrain of the Tsavo East savannah and had their offensive halted in the small town of Manyani. With the Free State's army halted at Manyani, the military was forced to resort to shelling and airstriking the Coalition forces in nearby cities and the city of Mombasa itself. After a long and vicious, the Coalition was finally defeated after Mombasa fell on June 17th, 2020. But this victory would be short lived as the People's Army would make massive gains during this three year time period as most of the Free State's military was preoccupied with the battle against the Coalition. On December 28th, 2020; Nairobi would fall and President Kibochi would be forced to relocate to the city of Garissa. During this time, former President and socialist leader Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o returned from exile to lead the People's Army, giving a morale boost towards the Kenyan socialist movement as a whole.

In the morning of February 5th, 2021; the Kenyan People's Army captured the city of Garissa as President Kibochi fled the country after a 1 month struggle for control of the city. Upon hearing of the fall of Garissa, Deputy President William Ruto would surrender around noon. By the end of the day, all of the Free State's forces in Kenya. The Democratic Republic of Kenya would be proclaimed on February 6th, 2021 with Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o resuming his role as President.

Democratic Republic of Kenya (2021 - Present)[]

Upon the People's Army in the Civil War and the proclamation of the Republic of Kenya on February 6th, 2021; the Democratic Republic would formally be recognized by the League of Nations on February 9th, 2021.

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