General Service Unit (Kenya)
| General Service Unit | |
|---|---|
| Abbreviation | GSU |
| Agency overview | |
| Formed | September, 1953 |
| Preceding agency | Emergency Company or Regular Police Reserve |
| Employees | ≈5000 (2007) |
| Legal personality | Governmental: Government agency |
| Jurisdictional structure | |
| General nature |
|
| Operational structure | |
| Headquarters | Nairobi, Kenya |
| Agency executive | Stephen Toroitich Chelimo, Commandant |
| Parent agency | Kenya Police |
The General Service Unit (GSU) is a paramilitary wing in the National Police Service of Kenya, consisting of highly trained police officers, transported by seven dedicated Cessnas and three Bell helicopters Having been in existence since the late 1940s, the GSU has fought in a number of conflicts in and around Kenya, including the 1963 – 1969 Shifta War and the 1982 Kenyan coup. The Kenyan police outlines the objectives of the GSU as follows: to deal with situations affecting internal security throughout the Republic, to be an operational force that is not intended for use on duties of a permanent static nature, and primarily, to be a reserve force to deal with special operations and civil disorders.
Initially created as the Emergency Company or Regular Police Reserve in 1948, the GSU began as a unit of 50 men armed with Bren guns carriers and armoured cars and was involved in a number of uprisings including the Mau Mau Uprising before being renamed the General Service Unit in September 1953. The newly designated GSU consisted of 47 European officers and 1058 Africans divided into 5 regional companies each consisting of a number of 39-man platoons. In 1957 further reorganisations took place and the GSU was brought under one commander, a Mr. S. G. Thomson. In 1961 the unit left Kenya for the first time to deal with civil unrest in Zanzibar, and then from 1963 until 1969 the GSU fought the secessionists during the Shifta War.
During the 1990s the GSU worked in central Kenya to quell socialist political unrest and demonstrations against the Kenyan government, such as the Saba Saba Day (7 July) celebrations of 1990, where 30 people were killed as the police and General Service Units took action. More recently, in July 2005, troops of the GSU were sent to northern Kenya to seek out those responsible for the deaths of 76 people, 22 of them children, at a school in the area. The GSU helped prevent further friction between feuding Gabra and Borana communities when they were transported to the region by two police and two military helicopters, as well as two ministers from the Kenyan government. Currently, the GSU has around 5,000 paramilitary troops, of which 2000 are the Israeli trained and battle hardened 'Recce group'. It is regulated under chapter nine of the Kenya Police Force Standing Orders.
...
Wikipedia