Faculty and administrators at Garissa University College returned to work on 4 January, nine months after a bloody massacre of mainly Christian students by Somalia’s al-Shabaab militants forced its closure.
Only about 60 students were expected to attend on the day when classes resumed. Before the attack, the university had about 800 students.
Roman Catholic Bishop Joseph Alessandro of the Garissa Diocese welcomed the reopening but said that only local people, mainly Muslims, were arriving at the institution, the only university in the largely Muslim north. ‘Christians’, he added, ‘are still scared. We hope they will soon join’.
