2023-08-07 23:49:33
Kenya commemorated on Monday the 25th anniversary of the 1998 bombing of the US embassy in Nairobi. The opportunity for survivors and families of victims to seek financial compensation.
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Survivors and families of victims of the 1998 attack on the American embassy in Nairobi renewed their demand for reparations from the American government on Monday, August 7, on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of this deadly attack claimed by Al-Qaeda.
On August 7, 1998 in the middle of the morning, a powerful explosion had devastated the American embassy located in the center of the Kenyan capital. Most of the 213 dead and more than 5,000 injured were bystanders or office workers in buildings near the embassy where 44 people – including 12 Americans – were killed. A few minutes later, another attack targeted the American diplomatic representation in Dar es Salaam, in neighboring Tanzania.
On Monday, families of victims and survivors of the Nairobi attack renewed their demands for compensation during a ceremony held on the site of the former embassy, in the presence of Kenyan and American officials.
“Still Fresh”
“This incident is still fresh” in the memories, told the platform Anisa Mwilu, who lost her husband in the attack. “What we can ask for is compensation and that is what we are asking for today,” she continued, to the applause of several hundred people present.
Caroline Muthoka, member of the Consortium of victims of the attack, for her part vilified “the injustice of the American government”, which did not approve financial compensation, calling on the American Congress to pass a law to cover in particular “the medical expenses” and “the education of our children”.
On the morning of the attack, Redempta Kadenge Amisi was in the offices of the Ufundi Building, a building next to the embassy totally destroyed by the explosion.
“I still hope”
“I was on the fourth floor, the three people I was with were killed instantly,” the 80-year-old lady, now in a wheelchair because of the after-effects of the attack, told AFP. “I didn’t realize it but my back was on fire, I spent more than four weeks in hospital. But since the attack, I haven’t received anything, no compensation even though I I have to take treatments morning and evening. But I still hope to get some,” she concluded.
During the ceremony, the names of the victims of the attacks in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam were read in front of an assembly moved to tears, and candles lit in their memory.
This attack was the first of a series of attacks that hit Kenya. The deadliest targeted the Westgate shopping center in Nairobi in 2013 (67 dead), Garissa University in 2015 (148 dead) and the Dusit hotel complex, also in Nairobi, in 2019 (21 dead).
With AFP
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