US First Lady's visit renews hope for embassy bomb victims
US First Lady Jill Biden.
Victims of the 1998 US Embassy bombings are hoping that the visit by the American First Lady Jill Biden will shine a fresh spotlight on their two and half decade plight.
Families of Kenyan victims in the terror attack that claimed 253 lives and maimed more than 3000, are still waiting for compensation from the United States government, 25 years on.
The victims are excited over a fresh effort by the Senate to push for their compensation.
On the eve of Dr Biden‘s three day visit to the country, the Senate began debating a motion by Machakos Senator Agnes Kavindu Muthama, seeking to initiate bilateral engagement to address the issue.
Senator Kavindu wants the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Diaspora to initiate fresh bilateral talks with American authorities geared towards including relatives of Kenyan victims into a special terrorism compensation fund.
Machakos Senator Agnes Kavindu.
Ms Kavindu says US Allies, including Kenya, have endured the great burden of death, and long-term and in many instances permanent, physical and psychological injuries.
“In the 1998 US Embassy bombings, the whole world knows that Al qaeda wasn’t targeting Kenya and that the 213 victims were collateral damage in the terror attack and therefore deserve to be fully compensated”, Senator Kavindu told the Sunday Nation in a telephone interview.
While moving her motion, Ms Kavindu told the Senate that United States Government has since compensated some of the victims and families of US citizens, leaving the families of Kenyan victims and their relatives uncompensated.
Surviving victims
Senators want the Foreign Affairs Ministry to advance friendship and co-operation between the United States and Kenya by supporting the eligibility of Kenyan and American victims and their personal representatives, surviving spouses and next of kin in the Victim Compensation Fund pursuant to the Justice for United States Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism Act.
They also want Foreign Affairs to partner with the Ministry of Health to explore subsidised medical treatment for the surviving victims of the bomb blast.
“The 1998 US Embassy Bomb disaster in Nairobi in which many of the Kenyan casualties resulted from the collapse of adjacent buildings located within a two to three block radius, and with reverberations being felt in most parts of Nairobi that resulted in 213 Kenyans and 12 Americans killed and over 5000 citizens of both countries being seriously injured” reads the motion.
The compensation of Nairobi bomb blast victims is a thorny issue in the Kenya - US relations especially after the US government compelled Sudan to pay huge payouts only to American victims.
The renewed focus on the attack and its aftermath comes as lawyers for the victims have begun lobbying US lawmakers to amend a congressionally established terrorism compensation fund to make Kenyan victims eligible.
If the proposed changes go through, about 1,000 to 3,000 Kenyan victims could be eligible for $5m each, a total payout of $5bn to $15bn, according to senior partner Philip Musolino of Washington law firm Musolino & Dessel.
Last year, President William Ruto and Opposition leader Raila Odinga, while on separate tours of the US said they fully support measures towards reparation for the long-suffering victims of the terror attacks in Nairobi in 1998.
“Every violation of a right – especially the right to life, limb and livelihood – must be remedied,” Mr Korir Sing’oei, the then legal adviser to Ruto’s office was quoted by The Africa Report. Mr Sing’oei is the current Principal Secretary in charge of Foreign Affairs docket.
On his part, Mr Odinga met with Musolino during his trip to Washington and endorsed the effort by US Congress to consider legislation, which will make the Kenyan victims eligible to participate in a United States Congressional fund providing compensation to the victims of terrorist attacks on the United States.
“The proposed legislation underscores the friendship and mutual interests of Kenya and the United States and we strongly urge the US Congress to adopt these amendments” he said.
The US law firm is floating a legislative change to the eligibility requirements for the United States Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism Fund, which Congress created in 2016. The fund is regularly replenished with money from fines against sanctions violators and sales of forfeited properties.
The twin Al Qaeda bombings on 7 August 1998 killed 213 people in Nairobi and another 11 in the Tanzanian capital of Dar es Salaam, while wounding thousands more.
