| Last Updated: Tuesday, 15 July, 2003, 11:19 GMT 12:19 UK |
|
Kenya bomb victims lose US appeal | ||||
An American appeal court said they had no grounds to sue the US Government for hundreds of millions of dollars in damages. The chairman of the Kenyan bomb victims association, Douglas Sidialo, who was blinded by the bomb blast, told BBC News Online that the victims are not surprised by the decision. "The blow was expected considering the negative attitude of the US Government, the US Senate and the US Congress towards the whole question of compensation," said Mr Sidialo.
"They have been very indifferent to the suffering of the Kenyan victims".
Last year, a court in Washington rejected the victims' claims that the US Government should be held liable for alleged negligence. The Kenyans sued the US for allegedly failing to secure the Nairobi embassy or to warn the public of the risk of attack. Embassy security Kenyans in the suit can still appeal to the US Supreme Court. But Mr Sidialo feels that last Friday's ruling makes it highly unlikely that such an appeal would succeed.
"If the appeal succeeds, well and good. But the chances of success are negligible, and the victims must now pick up the pieces and live full lives". "We cannot continue to rely on compensation which the US Government is obviously unwilling to grant," he says. The appeal court decision comes nearly five years after the 7 August 1998 bomb blast that killed some 200 Kenyans and 12 Americans. Thousands others were injured in the explosion that destroyed the US embassy and the adjacent Ufundi Co-operative house in Nairobi. The US Government insists that the al-Qaeda group was to blame for the suffering inflicted on Kenyans.
Four men linked to al-Qaeda were convicted and jailed for life for the attacks. LINKS TO MORE AFRICA STORIES | ||||
Do you Yahoo!?
SBC Yahoo! DSL - Now only $29.95 per month!
