ICC Note:

Two years after the fact, Christian student survivors reflected on the al-Shabaab attack against the Garissa University in Garissa, Kenya. On April 2, the anniversary of the shooting, a Christian survivor shared with persecution “watchdog group” Open Doors the words of the attackers: “You are asking who we are. We are al-Shabaab. We have come. Let us see who will win the game. We can see where you are hiding. Come out if you want to save your life!” The Somali-based terror group were issuing an exam, according to the Fellowship of Christian university Students former chairman Frederick Gitonga. If the individual confessed to be Muslim, the student passed and lived. If the person claimed to be Christian or could not recite parts of the Koran, the student failed and died. 

04/04/2017 Kenya (The Christian Post) – Margaret, one of the Christian student survivors, shared with persecution watchdog group Open Doors last week ahead of the April 2 anniversary the words of the attackers:

“You are asking who we are. We are al-Shabaab. We have come. Let us see who will win the game. We can see where you are hiding. Come out if you want to save your life!”

Frederick Gitonga, the former chairman of the Fellowship of Christian University Students, noted, “In the end it was an exam. If you wanted to pass, you would say you are a Muslim. If you failed, you are shot dead. If you are a Muslim, your life was safe.”

The Somali-based terror group has repeatedly targeted Christians, purposefully separating them from Muslims before killing them in several kidnapping raids.

The Garissa Christian survivors attested how some of the Muslim students attempted to cover for the Christians by saying they are Muslims, but if the students were unable to recite parts of the Koran, the Islamic holy book, they were reportedly shot dead.

Although Garissa University in Garissa, Kenya, reopened last year with an aim to rebuild and restore its campus following the attack, one of the most deadly in recent years in the region, few Christian students have decided to take up study there, fearful of what happened.

“The number of non-Muslim students willing to study in Garissa is very small,” a staff member there said in the days before the two-year anniversary.

“This is because fear remains high and Garissa is not considered safe … With the memorial day coming, many are looking anxious and worried.”

Kenya, African Union, and U.S. air forces have all been seeking to dismantle al-Shabaab. More than 150 of the Islamist group’s fighters were killed during an American airstrike operation on al-Shabaab’s Raso training camp last March.

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