Garissa University marks four years since terror attack

Voice of America 06 April 2019

Kenya’s Garissa University is marking four years since an al-Shabaab militant attack claimed 148 lives, most of them students. While the Somali terrorist group has carried out numerous assaults since then, it remains their deadliest attack inside Kenya, writes Rael Ombuor for Voice of America.

Twenty-four-year-old Vitalis Opiyo is a carpenter in Nairobi, but in 2015 he was studying to be a teacher at Garissa University when militants attacked. Opiyo says early on 2 April that year, he heard what sounded like gunshots, and after some minutes the sound of people screaming. His two roommates ran outside to see what was happening. It was the last time Opiyo saw them alive.

The university took nine months to reopen, but now has 1,500 students, more than double the number in 2015. Vice-Chancellor Ahmed Osman Warfa says they have healed from the tragedy. “We have moved on because of resilience, because of our marketing strategies and because of what we have done that has brought a lot of students back to the university. We have put up a perimeter wall, we have established a police post, which houses 30 officers,” Warfa said.
Full report on the VOA site

Receive email updates from UWN

Global newsletters    Africa newsletters    Other
    (other includes related events and webinars)

Data will be processed according to our standard terms & conditions.

Research focuses on production of jet fuel from halophytes

UAE University staff

With an eye to developing a clean, alternative aviation fuel to reduce carbon emissions, researchers at the United Arab Emirates University have been focusing on the production of jet fuel from sustainable resources such as halophytes, which are salt-tolerant plants that could be cultivated on a wider scale in the region’s coastal areas.

The value of being human: How teachers can work alongside AI

Michael Milligan

Artificial intelligence is now a part of our evolution in technology and teachers need to be encouraged to find ways to bring AI into the classroom and have students use it in a way that is beneficial to them in the long term.

Ground-breaking research on seawater biodesalination

UAE University staff

As water scarcity reaches critical levels globally, a research team at the United Arab Emirates University seeks to revolutionise seawater desalination practices, offering a path to mitigate water scarcity while championing environmental preservation.