For Kenyan security guard Maurice Adembesa Ombisa the horror of Nairobi’s Westgate mall massacre lasted just minutes: he was one of the first of the 67 people killed in the attack.
But for his widow and two young children, who on Sunday mark the one year anniversary of the four-day blood-bath siege, the trauma of the killings is as bitter as ever.
“Our lives have changed forever,” said Ombisa’s widow Eunice Khavetsa, who now cares for her 9-year-old son and 7-year-old daughter alone.
On a busy Saturday afternoon, the high-rise shopping centre was crowded with hundreds of shoppers or friends meeting for a meal.
Then four gunmen from Somalia’s al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabaab stormed the upmarket mall, hurling grenades and shooting scores in cold blood with AK-47 rifles.
Women and children were hunted down in supermarket aisles and executed, in what al-Shabaab said was revenge for Kenya’s sending of troops to fight the extremists in Somalia as part of an African Union force.
Ombisa, who carried out security checks on cars entering the building, was earning a wage to support his family.
He was shot soon after the men burst from the car, spraying bullets at anyone within their sights.
“Life since has been extremely difficult,” his 27-year-old widow Khavetsa – who lives in a simple tin hut home in one of Nairobi’s crowded slum districts – said.
She said as her husband had been a new employee of the security firm, the family received no compensation – although a small amount of money was received from the Kenyan Red Cross, which organised a public support fund.
“The children are now looking up to me for everything – from school fees, food to clothing – and I can barely afford house rent.”
Since losing her husband of eight years, she has struggled to cope.
“It’s been a tough year,” she said. “My in-laws have deserted us, they don’t even come to see the children.”
Miriam Okola, 29, said it was painful to recall the death of her husband, a driver who had been shopping in the large mall for his employer.
Photographs of him bring back painful memories.
“My children have been bothering me, asking about their dad – to a point where I have been forced to put his photos away,” Okola said, barely holding back her tears.
Leah Njuki, who was working as a sales attendant, escaped unharmed from the attack, but with the mall closed since the attack – a large section collapsed during the four days of fighting and a fierce fire – she struggles to get by.
“I lost my job, and I haven’t been lucky to get another one,” the mother of one said.
On Sunday, prayers will be held in places of worship, and a candle-light memorial service and concert will take place, with video testimonies from survivors.
“It looked like a war zone, a massacre had taken place,” said Abdul Haji, who ran into the mall to rescue people during the attack.
“What these people were doing in Westgate was the complete opposite of what Islam teaches us. I saw children who had been shot at, I saw young girls who had been killed, I saw elderly who had been killed.”
Some people have tried to find the smallest good in the most horrific of events.
Ranju Shah, who had been at Westgate for a coffee, recounted how she and others hid in a storage area for two hours as the fighting raged, with Kenyans from all ethnicities comforting each other.
“The whole incident has brought the people of Kenya together,” Shah says in the memorial film.
“Everybody tried to help everybody, they didn’t care about what caste, creed or religion they were following, they were all helping each other.”
Others are defiant, despite being wounded in the attack.
“It was a miracle how I survived,” said Ben Mulwa, 32, who was shot in the leg.
“That attack alone changed my life. To date, every time I hear the sound of a gunshot, it messes me up,” said the father-of-two, who is involved in micro-finance projects supporting poor women and youth.
Al-Shabaab remains a major threat, and continues to launch attacks despite advances by AU troops in Somalia and a US air strike that killed its chief earlier this month.
But Mulwa still goes to malls, refusing to let the attack change his life more than it has. “I don’t feel intimidated by that cowardly act,” he said, standing outside the boarded-up Westgate building, where bullet scars still pockmark its walls.
Sapa-AFP
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Attack facts and follow-up actions
One year after Somalia’s al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabaab rebels stormed Nairobi’s Westgate mall, killing at least 67 people in a four-day siege that began on September 21, multiple questions remain.
Here is an update on investigations and developments.
CASUALTIES
The official toll is 67 victims. Western officials suggested as many as 94 could have died, but forensic experts say evidence based on body parts matches the toll of 67.
FATE OF THE ATTACKERS?
Security cameras show only four attackers, not the dozen that officials reported during the siege. All four are believed to have died inside the mall.
Al-Shabaab said they were suicide commandos, but have never confirmed directly that they died, and no video or statements from the attackers have been released. However, forensic experts say the bodies of four suspected attackers were found. Two have been named.
WHO WERE THE GUNMEN?
Two alleged attackers were named in court documents as 23-year-old Hassan Abdi Dhuhulow, who had spent time in Norway, and Mohammed Abdinur Said. All were reportedly ethnic Somalis. They were armed with AK-47 rifles and grenades.
TRIALS
The trial of four men accused of helping the gunmen opened in January in Nairobi.
The suspects – Hussein Hassan Mustafa, Mohammed Ahmed Abdi, Liban Abdullah Omar and Adan Mohammed Abdikadir – are accused of providing support to the gunmen. All deny the charges. The trial continues on Tuesday.
SOMALIA STRIKES
Earlier this month US air strikes killed al-Shabaab chief Ahmed Abdi Godane, who praised the attack and vowed to bring “rivers of blood” to Kenya.
US special forces raided southern Somalia in October last year, hunting al-Shabaab commander Abdulkadir Mohamed Abdulkadir, also known as “Ikrima”. They missed their target.
Last month, Somali government forces and AU soldiers, including Kenyan troops, launched “Operation Indian Ocean”, a major offensive in southern Somalia aimed at seizing key ports from al-Shabaab and cutting off multi-million dollar charcoal exports.
AL-SHABAAB THREAT
Al-Shabaab insurgents have lost almost all towns in Somalia, but since Westgate have launched a series of brazen attacks inside Somalia, including on the parliament and presidential palace.
The extremists have also claimed responsibility for a series of deadly raids on Kenya’s coastal region, as well as a bomb attack in a restaurant in the Republic of Djibouti, which like Kenya, is part of the AU force in Somalia.
Ugandan police last week arrested a suspected al-Shabaab bomb cell, who were believed to have been planning a new Westgate-style attack.
NO ‘WHITE WIDOW’
Despite witness reports, there is no sign on security camera footage of a female attacker. At the time, there was widespread speculation of the involvement of a British woman dubbed the “White Widow”, 30-year old Muslim convert Samantha Lewthwaite.
Kenyan police say they have lost the trail of Lewthwaite, subject of an Interpol “red notice” warrant for her arrest.
Sapa-AFP