NAIROBI, Kenya Aug 7 – The United States has announced a new grant to support the preservation of the August 7 Memorial Park, reaffirming its commitment to honouring victims of the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombing in Nairobi.
Speaking during a visit to the memorial on the 28th anniversary of the attack, U.S. Chargé d’Affaires Susan M. Burns said the funding, awarded through the Ambassador’s Fund for Cultural Preservation will help sustain the park as a lasting symbol of remembrance.
“Today, I am deeply moved to visit the August 7th Memorial and announce an Ambassador’s Fund for Cultural Preservation@ECA_AS grant to sustain this park as a lasting sanctuary of peace, reflection, and resilience. Daima tutakumbuka (We will always remember),” Burns said.
The envoy noted that every year, the United States pauses to honour the victims, survivors and first responders whose lives were forever changed by the August 7, 1998 terrorist attack.
Terrorists linked to al-Qaeda detonated a powerful truck bomb devastating the embassy building and the adjacent Ufundi Cooperative House, where hundreds of Kenyans were working. The blast also shattered windows and damaged buildings several blocks away.
More than 220 people were killed, including 12 Americans, while over 4,000 others were injured. The overwhelming majority of those who died were Kenyan civilians, making it one of the country’s worst terrorist attacks.
The Nairobi bombing occurred simultaneously with another attack on the U.S. Embassy in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, where 11 people were killed.
On August 7, 1998, terrorists linked to al-Qaeda detonated a powerful truck bomb outside the United States Embassy in downtown Nairobi, Kenya, in one of the deadliest terrorist attacks in Africa’s history.
