<P> The capture of Warũhiũ Itote (also known as General China) on 15 January 1954 and the subsequent interrogation led to a better understanding of the Mau Mau command structure . Operation Anvil opened on 24 April 1954, after weeks of planning by the army with the approval of the War Council . The operation effectively placed Nairobi under military siege . Nairobi's occupants were screened and the Mau Mau supporters moved to detention camps . The Home Guard formed the core of the government's strategy as it was composed of loyalist Africans, not foreign forces such as the British Army and King's African Rifles . By the end of the emergency, the Home Guard had killed 4,686 Mau Mau, amounting to 42% of the total insurgents . </P> <P> The capture of Dedan Kimathi on 21 October 1956 in Nyeri signified the ultimate defeat of the Mau Mau and essentially ended the military offensive . During this period, substantial governmental changes to land tenure occurred . The most important of these was the Swynnerton Plan, which was used to both reward loyalists and punish Mau Mau . </P> <P> The first direct elections for native Kenyans to the Legislative Council took place in 1957 . Despite British hopes of handing power to "moderate" local rivals, it was the Kenya African National Union (KANU) of Jomo Kenyatta that formed a government . The Colony of Kenya and the Protectorate of Kenya each came to an end on 12 December 1963 with independence being conferred on all of Kenya . The United Kingdom ceded sovereignty over the Colony of Kenya . The Sultan of Zanzibar agreed that simultaneous with independence for the Colony of Kenya, the Sultan would cease to have sovereignty over the Protectorate of Kenya so that all of Kenya would be one sovereign, independent state . In this way, Kenya became an independent country under the Kenya Independence Act 1963 of the United Kingdom . Exactly 12 months later on 12 December 1964, Kenya became a republic under the name "Republic of Kenya". </P> <P> Concurrently, the Kenyan army fought the Shifta War against ethnic Somali rebels inhabiting the Northern Frontier District, who wanted to join their kin in the Somali Republic to the north . A cease fire was eventually reached with the signature of the Arusha Memorandum in October 1967, but relative insecurity prevailed through 1969 . To discourage further invasions, Kenya signed a defence pact with Ethiopia in 1969, which is still in effect . </P>

When did the country of kenya come into existence
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