PHOTO: Kofi Awoonor's Son

Afetsi Awoonor, the son of Ghanaian poet and politician, Prof. Kofi Nyidevu Awoonor, who was slain in the Kenyan Westgate Shopping Mall massacre, has expressed disappointment about not being able to to save his father. In an interview with BBC�s Komla Dumor yesterday, a visibly devastated Afetsi aka Tsitsi stated that everything went �haywire� when he and his father drove into the Nairobi Westgate Shopping Mall on Saturday for breakfast. According to him, they heard gunshots and there were bullets flying all over the place, prompting him to run for cover, expecting his dad to follow suit. ��I found somewhere to hide and tried to look back to see if I could see any sign of my father but I didn�t,� Afetsi told the BBC tearfully. He recalled that the moment they alighted from the vehicle, they heard gun shots with people running helter-skelter. Fearing for his life, he said, he decided to �run for cover� and in the process lost communication and contact with the father who had then entered the mall. According to him, the numerous tributes to his father had been �helpful� in lifting up his spirits, adding that �my family and I appreciate� them. Apparently, Prof. Awoonor, immediate past Chairman of the Council of State, was one of the first casualties when the Somali Islamist fanatical group, Al-Shabaab, struck the high-end shopping mall in Nairobi. He was killed alongside the taxi driver that drove them to the mall. The militants, wielding hand grenades and sophisticated weapons, started shooting at innocent shoppers indiscriminately. As he scampered to safety, Afetsi was hit by a bullet that struck his chest which exited through his shoulder. The emotional Afetsi Awoonor, who was heavily bandaged, could not continue the interview with the BBC, as he admitted that the situation was too much for him to process. Officials released the casualty figures for the Westgate Shopping Mall massacre yesterday. So far, 72 people had been confirmed dead including Ghanaian poet, Professor Kofi Awoonor. It was also officially established that approximately 175 people had received several degrees of injury while some unknown number of hostages were said to be unaccounted for. About 11 of the militants were captured by the Kenyan security forces while about five of their colleagues were shot dead. Officials also confirmed the death of 6 Kenyan military personnel. The body of Prof. Awoonor has been flown in. Ghanaian Government officials met family members of the deceased to discuss the arrival and reception for the body. It was expected that a possible date for the funeral rites and burial would be concluded at the meeting. Family sources claimed that Prof. Awoonor had already planned how his funeral should be conducted. �How he wanted his burial to be organised will be taken into consideration in the planning,� stated Prof. Kofi Anyidoho, a close friend of the deceased. Prof. Awoonor was in Kenya in connection with his literary work: �The Promise of Hope� which had been selected as a lead book by the University of Nebraska in the city of Lincoln in the United States of America. End of Siege Tuesday evening, Kenyan President, Uhuru Kenyatta, announced that the four-day siege and the ensuing fierce gun battle between Kenyan Security forces and the terrorists had ended after explosions were heard in the Westage Mall. �We have shamed and defeated our attackers. That part of our task was completed,� President Kenyatta addressed Kenya and the world on Tuesday. The president also confirmed that three floors of the Westgate shopping centre collapsed during the �tail end� of the operation and there were still at least three bodies in the rubble. The massacre in Kenya had sent various countries across the African continent scurrying to beef up internal security. The Ghana Police Service was said to have deployed more personnel to the Accra Mall � one of Ghana�s high-end shopping centres � for reconnaissance. But Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Cephas Arthur, said he was not aware of such deployment except the routine patrols around the area. More Attacks As at press time on Tuesday, a Twitter account purportedly belonging to the terrorist group, Al-Shabaab, which stormed Kenya�s Westgate Shopping Mall, had threatened more attacks on Kenyan installations across the world. The group had set October 20, December 12, 25 and 26 as their D-Days. �We ain�t even yet, operation Linda Nchi will be forgotten after this and many more to come. Our off duty Mujahideen (Fighters) just got new orders to eliminate Kenyan targets across the globe�We will attack when you least expect us to,� stated the HSM Press Office with Twitter handle @hms_pressofice2. It had been claimed that the terrorist organisation responsible for the horror was tweeting updates while it carried out its attacks on the Westgate Shopping Centre.