British Colonies
The Imperial British East Africa Company raised units of askaris from among the Swahili people, the Sudanese and Somalis. There was no official uniform, nor standardised weaponry. Many of the askaris campaigned in their native dress. Officers usually wore civilian clothes. From 1895 the British askaris were organised into a regular, disciplined, uniformed force called the East African Rifles, later part of the King's African Rifles. The designation of "askari" was retained for locally recruited troops in the King's African Rifles, smaller military units and police forces in the colonies until the end of British imperial rule in Kenya, Tanganyika and Uganda during the period 1961-63.
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