Can Garissa ever recover after mass killing?

A journalist, who was profoundly affected when he reported from Kenya’s Garissa University College after 148 students died, has returned since to see if life can ever be the same for Garissa. The , from Garissa, describes how what he saw during the April 2015 attack by Al-Shabaab militant Islamists caused him . . . Read More

Kenyan university reopens 9 months after massacre

Kenya’s Garissa University has reopened nine months after a Somalian Islamist group attacked the campus and killed 148 students, . Many by the Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Shabaab gunmen in what was the deadliest attack on Kenyan soil since the US Embassy bombings in 1998. Police have established a post on the campus . . . Read More

Pope in Africa says conflict ‘feeds on fear, mistrust and despair’

Pope in Africa says conflict ‘feeds on fear, mistrust and despair’
For his first trip to Africa, Pope Francis is visiting Kenya, Uganda and the Central African Republic (CAR), from 25-30 November. The three countries all have predominantly Christian populations – Kenya about 80%, Uganda 85% and CAR 76% – with about 10% or so Muslim in each of them. But . . . Read More

Kenya to ‘re-integrate’ ex-Al-Shabaab recruits

Kenya has welcomed the return of 700 citizens who had joined Somalia’s Al-Shabaab militant group that has attacked churches, malls and government institutions, most notably Garissa University College where nearly 150 people — mostly Christian students — were killed last spring. The returning militants are said to be undergoing rehabilitation . . . Read More

Global Church meets to seek unity in face of persecution

Global Church meets to seek unity in face of persecution
Twenty-five years ago, on 4 Nov. 1990, a priest risked his life to hold a mass in a cemetery in Albania. In 1967 his president, Enver Hoxha, had declared that he had “abolished” the Christian faith, and that his country was henceforth the world’s first atheist state. On 4 Nov. . . . Read More

Report: Christianity contracting in MidEast, Africa

Report: Christianity contracting in MidEast, Africa
Christianity is fast disappearing from entire regions, most notably a huge chunk of the Middle East, and could vanish from Iraq within five years, according to a new report by Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need. Released in the UK’s House of Lords on Tuesday, the report, “Persecuted and . . . Read More

Garissa warnings ‘ignored’

Kenya’s Interior Minister has accused security officers of ignoring warnings about a potential attack before the Al-Shabaab assault on Garissa University College, which left 148 students dead. Joseph Nkaisserry told a parliamentary committee in Nairobi that the response to the attack was also poorly coordinated, reports the BBC. After the . . . Read More