• They say the government failed to stop the smuggling of money that was used by al Qaeda to finance the attack, despite having prior knowledge.
• Case to be mentioned on May 25
Image: FILE
Victims of the 1998 US Embassy bombing have accused the government of laxity and negligence over its failure to forestall the attack.
The 400 victims, led by George Ngigi and Kituo Cha Sheria, have sued the government, saying it failed to stop the smuggling of money that was used by al Qaeda to finance the attack, despite having prior knowledge.
They say the masterminds lived in an apartment in Nairobi where they set up a makeshift laboratory for developing their surveillance photographs and where leaders based in or travelling to Kenya sometimes met.
“In August 1997, before the US embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania, the FBI and the Kenya police raided the house of one Wadih El Hage in Nairobi — [El] Hage was a terrorist on-site manager — and found a very disturbing letter on his computer hard drive, the letter outlined the presence of a bin Laden terrorist 'cell' in Nairobi and bin Laden's call to kill Americans,” they say.
The victims claimed that around May 1998, the terrorists were residing in Runda, an upmarket estate. The home was isolated by high walls, making it nearly impossible for any passer-by to observe activity in and around the house.
"A month later at approximately 10:30am, terrorists driving in a truck detonated a large bomb in the rear parking area, near the ramp to the basement garage of the American Embassy leading to the death of 213 and 400 injured,” they say.
The victims claim the Kenyan government failed to take the necessary steps to prevent the attack as the entire planning and execution or likelihood of an attack was known by the state and if not, the attack should have reasonably come to the knowledge of the state.
“They failed to ensure our security by failing to beef up security at the Kenyan borders and to vet all persons coming into the country as is expected of a country exercising due diligence,” they say.
Ngigi says from the failures and breaches, all Qaeda operatives freely established residences, makeshift laboratories, transport equipment and weaponry, as well as the movement of its personnel.
“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 Nairobi embassy and told CIA officers that he knew about a group that was planning to detonate a truck bomb inside the diplomats' underground parking garage."
The petitioners' case is that the state ignored or neglected several useful intelligence and information on impending terrorist attacks, targeting the US Embassy in Nairobi.
They argue that while Kenyans who were American citizens, Kenyan employees and contractors have been awarded compensation, theirs has been a long search for justice.
The petitioners want the court to declare that the Kenyan government failed to take the necessary steps to detect, prevent and stop the bombing.
Also sought is a declaratory order that the AG advise the President to set up a commission of inquiry into the security failures leading to the terrorist attack to establish the culpability of state institutions and officers and recommend prosecutions. Compensation has also been sought.
The victims argue that there is no record of security officials or institutions being held to account for their failure to detect and stop the 1998 bombing, despite having sufficient intelligence.
“An inquiry into the 1998 US bomb blast attack will foster accountability within the security establishment and avoid repetition of a similar attack,” they say.
In an affidavit, Annette Mbogoh, the Kituo Cha Sheria executive director, says they are aware that in the lead-up to the attacks, the Sudanese government harboured al Qaeda militants, provided them with Sudanese passports and allowed them to transport weapons and money across the border into Kenya.
Sudan had also given safe haven to Osama Bin Laden, prompting the US State Department to place the country on a list of state sponsors of terrorism in 1993.
“Had the Kenyan government beefed up security at the Kenyan border, the terrorists would not have come into the country or enjoyed a safe haven to plan and execute the attack,” the petition reads.
It says the transportation of equipment and weaponry used in the attack and the smuggling of money point to complacency and laxity that allowed al Qaeda operatives to bypass custom and immigration controls.
The case will be mentioned on May 25.