Attack on Garissa University College

Garissa

Location of Garissa in Kenya

The attack on Garissa University College was an armed terrorist attack carried out by Somali militia al-Shabaab on April 2, 2015 on the campus of the state-owned Garissa University College in Garissa , Kenya , in which 148 victims and the four assassins were killed by security forces.

course

On the morning of April 2, 2015, fighters from the Islamist militia al-Shabaab attacked the campus of Garissa University College . After killing guards, they shot students in the two student dormitories and seminar rooms. After survivors were impressed, the masked perpetrators used AK-47 rifles to deliberately kill non-Muslim students. 16 hours later, the army stormed the area. According to official sources in Kenya, 148 people were killed by the terrorists and numerous people were gunshot wounds. The four attackers were also killed by the intervening GSU Recce Squad . Eight hours after the terrorist attack began, gunshots and explosions could still be heard from the university campus.

According to initial information from Interior Minister Joseph Nkaissery on April 3, not only a large number of students, but also two security guards, a police officer and a Kenyan soldier lost their lives on the side of the terrorist victims. Finally, knowing the consequences of the terrorist attack, the number of 142 students killed and 6 security guards died.

According to estimates from government circles, the alleged instigator of the terrorist attack is a well-known teacher in Kenya and a former principal at the Madrasa Najah in Garissa. Mohamed Kuno, also known by the names Sheikh Mahamad, Dulyadin and Gamadheere, is a Somali-born Kenyan. The Kenya Defense Forces provided further details about the terrorists . According to this, a young lawyer and graduate of the University of Kenya , the son of a regional administrative group leader from Mandera County in northeastern Kenya , is among the killed assassins . He has been missing from his family since 2014 and suspected of being with the al-Shabaab militia in the neighboring country.

The educational facility is not far from facilities of the Kenyan armed forces .

Reactions

In Eastleigh , a predominantly Muslim district of Nairobi , several hundred residents demonstrated on April 5, 2015 against the bloodbath of the terrorists in Garissa. Local politicians, clergymen and business people were among the Muslim demonstrators. According to a spokesman, the terrorist attack aims to divide the society of the East African country by trying to impose an order on it based on the principle of “ divide et impera ”. We have lived together in peace for so long that we cannot be separated from one another by the events (“We have lived together in peace for so long that we do not have to be separated now.”).

As a retaliatory action, the Kenyan air force reportedly bombed al-Shabaab bases in Somalia on April 6, 2015.

In view of the attack, a member of the County Assembly ( MCA ) in Nairobi called on the Kenyan government to invest more in the security forces and the secret service and to adapt to new forms of crime with new tactics.

Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta declared three days of national mourning in memory of the civilians killed. During Easter, people across the country expressed their sadness and solidarity. Al-Shabaab, however , as far as Al Jazeera knew, threatened a “long and cruel war” and “another bloodbath” if Kenya were not to withdraw its military units from Somalia.

The arrival of Kenyan security forces on the campus in Garissa for several hours led to public criticism. Foreign Minister Amina Mohamed defended the military's approach and described it as "adequate" in a CNN interview. When asked about this, she said that the interaction between the various special units had taken place on a high and previously unattained level. She assessed that everything conceivable had been done in this situation (“We did everything that we could do.”) Other representatives presented the surprise effect of the terrorist attack as well as technical and logistical reasons to justify it. During the preparations for the deployment, those responsible assumed an overall protective effect for 815 students.

Teaching at the college will initially be relocated to the main campus of Moi University in Uasin Gishu County , with the start of May 20, 2015.

Background in Kenya

Research published in 2014 by the Pretoria- based Institute for Security Studies (ISS), which was carried out with the support of the Kenyan Muslim Youth Alliance (German: "Muslim Youth Association of Kenya") with the help of interviews with young Kenyans, shed light on domestic politics Conflict situation. The results show that many young people have turned to extremist groups because of the past history of the Kenyan government's collective punishment or murder of religious leaders. The organizations al-Shabaab and the Mombasa Republican Council (MRC) would primarily benefit from the influx of politically disappointed Kenyans . Although the two organizations have completely different programmatic profiles, they currently view the Kenyan government as a common adversary. Under these conditions, Al-Shabaab attracts people who advocate Islamist extremism including terrorism, and the MRC, on the other hand, recruits its sympathizers on the basis of ethnic and economic goals with secessionist tendencies.

From both groups, the country's security forces are accused of injustices and actions of “collective punishment”. The research showed that Muslims in Kenya feel discriminated against; 73 percent of the al-Shabaab supporters surveyed expressed hatred of other religions. About half of al-Shabaab supporters see the Kenyan government as the reason for the way they perceive their religion to be treated in the country.

According to the ISS study, the political situation in Kenya is becoming increasingly unstable. Instead of bringing people together in Kenya, politicians in the country would use political divergences for their own purposes, which could threaten national unity in the future. The local conditions have increased the potential for frustration, which is likely to strengthen the position of al-Shabaab in Kenya. As a result of the research, it was found for the recent history of Kenya that mass arrests and general suspicions of people on the basis of certain characteristics of ancestry (" racial profiling ") lead to counterproductive situations and push those affected into extremism. If the government does not change its methods, it could lead to a cycle of radicalization and unrest.