- Title: KENYA: 4TH ANNIVERSAY COMMEMORATED OF U.S. EMBASSY BOMB IN NAIROBI.
- Date: 8th August 2002
- Summary: (W5) NAIROBI, KENYA (AUGUST 7, 2002) (REUTERS-ACCESS ALL) 1. GV/CU: EXTERIOR OF MEMORIAL PARK; PEOPLE INSIDE THE MEMORIAL PARK (3 SHOTS) 0.09 2. GV/PAN/MV/CU: PEOPLE AT PRAYER SESSION IN MEMORY OF THE VICTIMS OF THE 1998 U.S EMBASSY BOMBING; PEOPLE SINGING; CLOSE OF A ROSE (3 SHOTS) 0.25 3. GV: BOMB SURVIVOR, PHILLIP GITAHI, ON WHEEL CHAIR
- Embargoed: 23rd August 2002 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: NAIROBI, KENYA
- Country: Kenya
- Reuters ID: LVAEA21O5A1SVXOEP4EO69R01YHW
- Story Text: Tearful survivors and relatives revisited the site of
the August 1998 United States Embassy bombing that left more
than 200 people dead and thousands injured.
Hundreds of relatives on Wednesday (August 7) gathered
at the former U.S embassy in Nairobi to commemorate the attack
on the embassy four years ago today.
The site of the former embassy is now a Memorial Park,
dedicated to those who lost their lives.
The simultaneous attacks on U.S embassies in Kenya and
Tanzania killed 226 people and injured over 5,000.
During a low-key ceremony, a crowd prayed and mourned
together, remembering their lost ones. They sang songs and
laid wreaths at the memorial site, a plaque inscribed with the
name of the attack's victims.
Sixty-five-year old Phillip Gitahi, who arrived in a wheel
chair, suffered internal injuries from being hit by flying
rubble. He remembers having lost consciousness. Gitahi
complains that the U.S government has not done enough to help
his situation, and wants the government to treat the Kenyan
victims the same way as those involved in the September 11
attacks.
"Regard those who were hit by eleven September just the
same with those people who were hit here on the seventh
August. Treat them the same," He said on Wednesday.
Since the bombing the U.S. government has provided funds,
either directly or through grants to Kenyan-based service
organizations, to assist the victims.
"We came here to thank God for having sustained us
throughout the four years and to celebrate life. We thank God
that we are alive, we know that life is a gift from God," said
Julie Agoye who lost her left eye, and suffered burns and
cuts, in the blast. She has since had a cosmetic operation to
correct the appearance on her destroyed eye.
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