Victims of 1998 bombing sue State for compensation
Bernice Mbugua @BerniceMuhindi
At least 342 victims of the 1998 US embassy bomb blast in Nairobi have filed a petition seeking compensation from the government.
The petitioners accuse the government of failing to take the necessary steps to detect, prevent and stop the bombing which left 213 dead and 5,000 injured.
The petitioners alongside a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) Legal Advice Centre (Kituo cha Sheria) accuse the government of failing to stop the smuggling of money into the Al Qaeda cells within the country which was used to finance the attack.
“The government failed to prevent the bombing as the entire planning and execution of the attack was known by the State and if not, the attack should have reasonably come to the knowledge of the State,” they say in court documents.
According to the petitioners, the Kenyan authorities failed to stop or prevent the attack despite the fact that nine months before the attack, an Egyptian named Mustafa Mahmoud Said Ahmed walked into the United States Nairobi Embassy and told the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officers that he knew about a group that was planning to detonate a truck bomb in the embassy.
Lives changed
Interior Cabinet Secretary, Inspector General of Police, Defense Cabinet Secretary, National Intelligence Service and the Attorney General have been named as respondents in the suit.
Terrorists driving a truck detonated a large bomb in the rear parking area at the American Embassy on August 7, 1998.
An estimated 200 Kenyan citizens were killed and 4,000 were injured by the blast in the vicinity of the embassy.
Through their lawyer John Khaminwa, the petitioners say following the attack, they lost their loved ones while some sustained serious injuries.
They say their lives have never been the same since the attack nearly 23 years ago.
“The life situation of most of the victims of the attack is that they have subsequently succumbed to their injuries, they suffer from illness related to the bomb blast including cancers while most live on medication support, which in most instances is beyond their reach,” they say in court documents.
The victims are aggrieved that while the US pursued compensation from Al-Qaeda assets and the BNP bank for its citizens, the Kenyan government has been unwilling to pursue compensation for its citizens.
Sudan payout
“While some of the victims including the United State Government employees killed or injured in the August 7 attack have been compensated and awarded, (we) have been excluded from the compensation on grounds that (we’re) neither American citizens, employees or contractors,” they say in the court documents.
Last month, survivors and families of Kenyan victims of the attack protested that they were not eligible to benefit from $335 million (Sh36 billion) paid by Sudan as compensation for victims of past attacks against US targets.
Only families of victims or those injured who are United States nationals or US embassy workers can benefit from the money.
“I felt awful [to hear about the compensation deal]… We were affected because of the enmity between the US and the attackers. They should give us consideration,” Diana Mutisya, who was injured in the 1998 bombing, told the BBC.
“Americans cannot be superior, we are all human beings... If anything we’re innocent, this thing happened because of them. They [the attackers] were targeting the American embassy where they knew American citizens were,” added Mutisya, a civil servant.
According to the victims, the State has a national and international obligation to ensure the relation of an effective right to reparation including compensation for all victims of the 1998 United States embassy bombing.
They say the State and its machinery were negligent and failed to stop the smuggling of money into Al-Qaeda cells within the country, which they say was ultimately used to finance the attack.
Special damages
The petitioners want the court to declare that the government compromised or violated the rights to life and the security of persons affected by the blast.
They also want the court to direct the Attorney General to advise the President to set up a commission of inquiry to look into the security failures leading to the bomb blast.
They also want the State to bear an obligation to provide adequate and effective compensation to all the victims of the blasts.
“The petitioners seek an order of compensation made up of special damages for the expenses incurred and the damages for loss of lives, general damages and exemplary damages,” their lawyer states in the petition. The matter will be mentioned May 25.
