Garissa University reopens nine months after massacre, but Christian students too scared to attend

Garissa University has re-opened nine months after al-Shabaab killed 148 people on the campus in Northern Kenya.

Kenyans attend a memorial vigil for victims at the "Freedom Corner" in Nairobi. Reuters

Staff returned to work this week and students are expected back on Monday. However only 60 of the previously 800-strong student population are expected to attend when classes resume, most of whom will be Muslim.

On 2 April 2015, gunmen raided the college  for more than ten hours, killing 148, mostly Christian students.

Roman Catholic Bishop Joseph Alessandro of the Garissa Diocese has welcomed the reopening of the university, but highlighted that currently most of the Christian students "are still scared" and will not return to their studies.

However, the bishop added: "We hope they will join soon."

In the aftermath of the shooting last April, 650 students from the college were offered places at its sister campus in Eldoret, western Kenya. They are not expected to return to Garissa upon its reopening.

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"It is too early to imagine the same students would go back. They have scars and wounds both physically and psychologically, which are still too fresh," said George Ogalo, the national director of Fellowship of Christian Unions, an organisation that serves Kenyan universities.

Security has been increased on campus, including a police station within the college. The government has also promised a security wall will be erected around the school's perimeter.

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