Kenyans bitter over al-Qaeda US embassy compensation snub

[Judi Lynn]

By Emmanuel Onyango
BBC News, Nairobi

Published 4 hours ago



Diana Mutisya has suffered lifelong injuries from the blast

Kenyan civil servant Diana Mutisya is devastated that she will not be receiving the same compensation as Americans injured in al-Qaeda's bombing of US embassy in Nairobi 22 years ago.

She was in a bank next to the embassy in the Kenyan capital fixing a payroll problem when the two explosions hit. The four other people in the room with her at the time died. She went into a coma and was flown to South Africa for treatment, where 15 metal plates were used to hold her spinal cord together.

Last month, it was announced that Sudan had paid $335m (£244m) as compensation for victims of past attacks against US targets.

But the deal - a key condition set by the US for Sudan to be removed from its list of state sponsors of terrorism - only includes punitive damages to families of victims or those injured who are US nationals or US embassy workers.

The majority of the estimated 5,000 people injured the twin bombings to hit the American embassies in Nairobi and the Tanzanian city of Dar es Salaam on 7 August 1998 will not get any money. Neither will the families of the more than 200 locals who died in the blasts.

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https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-56759771