Kenyan independence veterans want Britain to apologize publicly for the beating, starvation and torture they say they suffered at the hands of British authorities when they fought against colonial rule over 50 years ago, their lawyer said Thursday.

The veterans next week will start a legal process in which they also want general compensation for the people affected, reparations to survivors and cancellation of Kenya's debt to Britain, Martyn Day said at a news conference in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.

If Britain does not respond within three months to a letter from the veterans, they will sue the British government at the High Court in London, said Day, a British human rights lawyer who has been hired by the Kenyan Human Rights Commission to represent the veterans.