A legal battle over Sh462 million thought to be al Qaeda money has started in the US with lawyers saying the money should be used to compensate the forgotten Kenyan victims of the American embassy bombing in Nairobi.

The money, which is about $7 million, is part of al Qaeda’s frozen assets.

A preliminary hearing on how to calculate the damages could take place later this year, said Mr Philip Musolino, a Washington attorney representing hundreds of the 6,000 Kenyans injured, blinded or bereaved by the Nairobi blast 10 years ago.

“I’m still hopeful,” Mr Musolino said last week. “We’re not giving up.”

Thursday August 7, 2008 is the 10th anniversary of the near simultaneous embassy bombings in Nairobi and Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania. In Nairobi 257 people were killed and another 6,000 injured.

In Kenya, a fresh hunt for terrorism mastermind Fazul Abdullah has been intensified after he evaded arrest last weekend.

Police have asked the public to contact them on telephone number 0714 746144 if they have information on the wanted al Qaeda mastermind.

Fazul is accused of plotting the Nairobi and Dar-es-Salaam bombings. He is also blamed for the bomb attack on Paradise Hotel in Kikambala, Kilifi, on November 22, 2002, and the attempted downing of an Israeli jetliner as it took off from Mombasa the same day.

At the weekend, police raided a house in Malindi on suspicion that Fazul was hiding there but they found he had just fled. A couple and their son have been charged with assisting Fazul to escape arrest.

In the past, attempts to push for compensation through the courts and other arms of the US government have all ended in failure. Efforts in the US Congress to gain redress for Kenyans through the legal process have also been unsuccessful.

Hopes that Senator Barack Obama, an American with Kenyan roots might intervene on behalf of the Kenyan victims have not been fulfilled so far. Mr Obama is the Democratic candidate in the US presidential elections to be held in November.

“I don’t believe Senator Obama has had time yet to look at this particular matter, which is surprising,” Mr Musolino told the Nation.
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Kenyans lost life and limb for a cause that is far removed from them. Many families lost bread winners and other formerly able persons incapacitated.
I think it is only fair the Americans own up, and be decent about the plight of these poor people.

May everydrop of the blood that was shed, may each life that were shattered, may each limb that was lost, Every sihgt that was lost, every disfigurement, every tear for a loved one;s life snuffed out, may every suffering be a sacrifice for the betterment of MANKIND