The devastation caused by al-Shabaab militants who stormed Nairobi’s Westgate shopping mall, killing at least 62 people and wounding some 200 more, may not be as widespread as the attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001. But its impact has been similarly felt the world over.
In particular, we console the former Kenyan Ambassador to Ireland, Catherine Mwangi, whose only son Mbugua and his fiancée died in the attack just one month before their planned wedding.
Mwangi’s six years as Kenya’s first ambassador to Ireland ended only last month, and in her final few days in Dublin she told Metro Éireann she would fondly remember the country. “What I really enjoyed most here and what will live with me forever is the generosity and the hospitality of the Irish people,” said Mwangi. “I have felt extremely welcome here, I have felt very comfortable living here and I have enjoyed interacting with the very many people that have come to me.”
Those who knew her son Mbugua say he had even a grater admiration for Ireland, and was also himself a source of inspiration for many people, including Irish staffers at the Kenyan Embassy.
While we pray for the repose of their souls, and strength for their friends and loved ones to bear the irreparable loss, we urge the international community to put in greater efforts to fight and defeat terrorism across the world.
