Kenyans this week are remembering victims of the Garissa University terror attack in which148 people including 142 students were killed by gunmen linked to the al shabab militant group.
On Monday, the United Nations in Nairobi hosted a memorial to mark two years since the attack.
Survivors spoke of the terrifying moments during the attack and how the university has risen from that dark past to become a source of inspiration in Kenya’s fight against violent extremism.
The physical scars still remain, a constant reminder of the morning of the 2nd of April 2015, when armed al shabab militants stormed into the Garissa University College shooting and maiming 148 people.
The university has since reopened under heightened security measures.
Dean of Students, Mohammed Hamo says, “As we are speaking we are having 581 students, of which 200 are government sponsored the rest are self-sponsored.”
National Counter Terrorism Centre’s Martin Kimani says, “It is only when we have decided to be intolerant of the intolerant that we will understand that our enemies are not al shabab or alqaeda, but it’s very ideas of illiberalism that are waiting to be attached military to begin to kill many Kenyans.”
The United Nations will also hold an exhibition with images depicting the university’s process of reconstruction two years since that deadly attack.
– By Sarah Kimani
