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From: Biniam Tekle (biniamt@dehai.org)
Date: Thu Sep 02 2010 - 09:02:48 EDT
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703882304575464882791437878.html
AFRICA NEWS
SEPTEMBER 1, 2010, 3:56 A.M. ET.
Uganda Bomb Victims Win Compensation
By Nicholas Bariyo
KAMPALA, Uganda—The Ugandan government is to compensate families of at
least 79 people killed in the July 11 terrorist attacks in the capital
Kampala, Uganda's Internal Affairs Minister said.
In remarks broadcast live on national television late Tuesday, Kirunda
Kivejinja said the government would also compensate survivors of the
blasts at a rugby club and bar in the capital, Kampala, as well as an
Ethiopian restaurant.
"In total, the government shall compensate 138 families," Mr.
Kivejinja said, adding the compensation would cover burial expenses
and medical treatment for the injured.
Al Shabaab, the al Qaeda-linked Somali militant group, claimed
responsibility for the attacks, saying they were retaliating against
Uganda's decision to send peacekeeping troops to war-torn Somalia.
Uganda and Burundi have at least 6,300 troops there as part of an
African Union force propping up the weak Western-backed transitional
government in Mogadishu.
Each family of those killed in the bombings will be given five million
Ugandan shillings ($2,207), while those injured are entitled to
compensation of three million shillings, Mr. Kivejinja said.
At least 11 foreigners, including one American, were among those
killed in the bombings. Issa Ahmed Luyima, a former foreign fighter
with Al Shabaab and the alleged mastermind of the attacks, told
reporters in Kampala this month that he targeted Americans because of
their support for the Somali transitional government.
"My rage was mainly against the Americans and Ethiopians for planting
the (transitional) government in Somalia and for mistreating Muslims,"
he said at a news conference organized by the Ugandan military, where
four terror suspects were paraded.
At least 32 suspects have already been produced in court in connection
with the attacks. Two suicide bombers are believed to have carried out
the twin blasts, while a third bomb was detonated remotely, according
to Ugandan investigators.
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