Document
I followed with horror the unfolding narrative of the events that took place yesterday on the campus of Garissa University in North East Kenya. Nearly 150 people were 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.
This atrocity was committed at the beginning of the holiest period in the western Christian calendar, though I do not know if the date was a factor in the assailants’ plans. 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. I call 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.
The message of Easter is clear: ultimately, death and evil does 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.
God of life, lead us to justice and peace
Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit
WCC general secretary
