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Kenya: Remembering Kikambala Victims
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The Nation (Nairobi)
OPINION
28 November 2007
Posted to the web 28 November 2007
Solomon Makolo
FIVE YEARS AGO TODAY, AN SUV crashed through a gate leading to the lobby of the Paradise Hotel in Kikambala. Once inside, the car bomb detonated killing 13 people at the hotel and the three suicide bombers. More than 80 people were injured.
Among the dead at the hotel were 10 dancers, entertainers at the hotel. Also killed were three vacationers, a 61-year-old man and two teenage brothers.
Almost simultaneously, not far from the hotel, shoulder-launched, surface-to-surface missiles were fired at a chartered Boeing 757 airliner as it took off from Mombasa's Moi International Airport carrying 271 tourists back to Israel. Six missiles were fired, one missing the plane by just a few metres.
The hotel blast and the attempted plane attack shocked Kenyans, who had barely recovered from the 1998 US embassy bombing that killed 200 people in Nairobi. The attack reminded Kenyans of their vulnerability to terrorism.
The majority of victims in both attacks were Kenyans as were most of the survivors, many of whom still bear the scars of the attacks with missing limbs and mental and physical trauma.
The loved ones of the victims can be found easily, as well. In Mombasa and Nairobi, family members still feel the loss. Losing a loved one under such horrific circumstances makes that death so much more painful.
A terror attack impacts on nearly every aspect of daily life, sometimes long after the event. In Kenya, tourism is crucial to the economy, earning the country $500 million in annual revenue, which accounts for 12 per cent of the gross national product.
In the period following the Mombasa attack, tourism officials estimate Kenya lost at least $1 million every day in profits. The number of tourists dropped sharply, and after five years has yet to fully recover.
SOME 500,000 KENYANS HAVE LINKS to tourism. After Kikambala, thousands lost jobs and hotel staff were laid off. Some restaurant workers had their pay slashed while many restaurants closed.
Each year, about one million visitors flock to Kenya. The UK and Germany are Kenya's top tourism markets, followed by Switzerland, Italy and the US.
The impact of the terror attacks, however, extends well beyond economic considerations. The majority of those injured at Mombasa were local people who worked at or near the hotel. Many were seriously injured and have not been able to work since. Others, although less injured, have had difficulty affording adequate medical care.
Probably most troubling to Kenyans is the realisation that terrorists are in their midst. Not knowing if the vehicle following is driven by a suicide bomber or if that friendly looking man with a bag might be carrying a bomb is disturbing.
Kenyans find themselves reluctant participants in a war not of their own making, but they are certain who the enemies are: Al Qaeda and other extremists.
The anniversary of the Paradise Hotel bombing gives cause for reflection on the consequences of terrorism. Terror shoots with a wide gun, indiscriminately killing, maiming and scarring all people in the general vicinity of its target.
A terrorist carrying explosives in his car has no idea how much damage he will cause or how long lasting the effects will be. If he could, just for a moment, imagine his own children at play among the group of potential victims, perhaps he would drive on, and let the children continue to play.
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Mr Makolo is a Taveta-based community development specialist with a focus on the impact of globalisation on rural poverty.
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