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The World Council of Churches (WCC) has strongly condemned the terror attack yesterday on the campus of Garissa University in North East Kenya. A statement issued on 3 April from the WCC headquarters in Geneva has expressed grave concern over the recent reports from Kenya with nearly 150 people massacred – including the guards protecting the campus – and almost 80 others left wounded by al-Shabaab extremists, who reportedly explicitly targeted Christian students on the basis of their faith.

“The World Council of Churches calls for the Kenyan authorities and the international community to ensure criminal accountability for those who conceived this unconscionable act, and to prevent future attacks, especially those intended to provoke inter-religious confrontation and conflict,” said Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the WCC.

“I grieve deeply at the loss of so many young people, bright hopes for Kenya’s future.  I offer my commiserations to the families of the dead, my prayers for healing to the wounded, and my solidarity and accompaniment to our sisters and brothers in our member churches in Kenya,”said Tveit.

“The message of Easter is clear: ultimately, death and evil do not and will not triumph. As millions of Christians throughout the world unite today to remember the suffering and death of Jesus Christ on the cross, this year we also remember the lives of so many young women and men in Kenya, so full of promise and hope, so brutally extinguished”, added Tveit.

Read full text of the WCC general secretary’s statement

WCC member churches in Kenya