“First, we will remember. Then we will talk about resilience,” said Molly Phee, assistant secretary of State for African affairs, offering the first words from the podium at a somber event at the State Department on Aug. 7. Inside the National Museum of American Diplomacy, participants had filled in rows of seats marked “Dar es Salaam, Tanzania” on one side, and “Nairobi, Kenya” on the other. Between them was a narrow aisle, but since this day 25 years ago, the two groups have been bonded by their shared loss and trauma. In near-simultaneous truck bomb explosions carried out by al-Qaida in Tanzania and Kenya on Aug. 7, 1998, the U.S. embassy communities in those countries were shattered. More than 250 people were killed (56 of them U.S. government employees, contractors, and family members; 12 of them were Americans), and more than 5,000 were wounded. Next to speak was Ambassador (ret.) Prudence Bushnell, chief of mission in Nairobi at the time of the attack. She described the victims as “loved ones of many here … who were trying to make a positive difference when they were cut down.” She recounted how, in the months leading up to the bombing, she had repeatedly asked State Department leadership to relocate the embassy due to security concerns. She was told to stop. “I would never have been able to face the people I face today, to have seen the pain, sorrow, and righteous anger of the families, survivors, victims, and citizens in Nairobi had I not known that I did my leadership best,” she said. Bushnell praised her colleagues for their actions in the aftermath: “They dug themselves out of the rubble, they re-created their organizations, they assisted others, they helped one another to heal, and they created the August 7th Memorial Park,” she said, where the names of those who were lost are etched in stone. “The mission purpose, because of those who died, is to be a symbol of hope, peace, and reconciliation,” she added. Ambassador John Lange, the former chargé d’affaires in Dar es Salaam, then took the stage. He described watching, as if in slow motion, as the glass from a window behind him blew over his head and landed, in mylar film sheets, on the people sitting across from him. Miraculously, none of them were seriously injured. Lange praised survivors for the duties they took on, consoling families, setting up airport operations, and reestablishing the embassy. He also emphasized the importance of providing mental health care for those who may suffer from posttraumatic stress disorder. “I would hope that [the Bureau of Medical Services] would do a mental health survey of current and retired employees and dependents who went through traumatic situations in Nairobi, Dar es Salaam, Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere,” he said. “For the victims of the 1998 bombings, it’s never been done.” Edith Bartley, chief advocate and spokesperson for survivors and families affected by the bombings, spoke next. She recalled her father and brother, both of whom were killed in Nairobi, and renewed calls for security at posts overseas. “As long as there is instability in the world, the dangers remain,” she said. “Foreign Service officers and embassy personnel need to know their families will be taken care of and never forgotten if tragedy strikes. The most precious asset of our U.S. embassies and consulates are the human personnel.” Finally, Secretary of State Antony Blinken offered remarks. Behind the numbers and statistics of the day, he said, “there was a father, a son, a brother, a mother, a daughter, a sister. Some of us in this life are somehow called upon to make a lifetime’s worth of difference in a period that is far shorter than what we consider a full life. Your loved ones did exactly that, and that’s an incredibly powerful, beautiful legacy to carry forward.” Commemoration: 25th Anniversary of the East Africa Bombings Secretary Blinken delivers remarks at the commemoration ceremony at the National Museum of American Diplomacy on Aug. 7, with Edith Bartley, left, John Lange, and Prudence Bushnell. U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE 14 OCTOBER 2023 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL
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