Oct 20, 2020(Nyamilepedia) — Some Kenyan victims of the 1998 US embassy bomb blast are rejecting the terms of a proposed compensation deal that will potentially see America lift sanctions against Sudan.
This comes a day after the US president announced his intention to remove Sudan from the list of terror sponsors upon payment of $335 million to US terror victims and families.
“GREAT news! New government of Sudan, which is making great progress, agreed to pay $335 MILLION to US terror victims and families. Once deposited, I will lift Sudan from the State Sponsors of Terrorism list. At long last, JUSTICE for the American people and a BIG step for Sudan!” Trump wrote yesterday.
The agreement will see Sudan pay a total of $335 million to victims of the embassy bombing and a separate attack on a US Navy ship in the year 2000.
The families of native-born Americans killed in the Nairobi blast are set to receive $10 million (about Sh1 billion), while US citizens injured in the explosion will get $3 million (about Sh 326 million) in compensation.
However, families of Kenyan nationals who were employed at the embassy and who died in the attack are to be paid $800,000 (about Sh 87 million) while injured Kenyan employees are to receive $400,000 (about Sh43 million).
Through their attorney, some Kenyan victims issued a statement Monday saying that they reject what they call “a discriminatory plan where compensation is dependent on a victim’s nation of birth rather than severity of injury.”
The proposed settlement “sets the value of a US embassy employee born in Africa at only 8 percent of an employee born in America,” said attorney Gavriel Marone.
Mr Mairone noted that Kenyans who became naturalised US citizens are treated in the agreement as non-Americans adding that close to a third of victims covered by the US Supreme Court judgments would not receive any payments under the provisions of the deal.
Doreen Oport, an embassy employee who became a US citizen after the attack said that Kenyan victims want a resolution but cannot accept one that betrays so many US embassy victims and the most basic principles of American justice.
“Sudan’s offer intentionally discriminates against victims with the least political clout,” Ms Oport added.
American courts had previously ruled that Sudan helped organise the terror attack that killed more than 200 Kenyans and a dozen US citizens 22 years ago.
