An Irish priest based in Kenya has said the “horrifying massacre” at Garissa University College overshadowed the country’s Easter celebrations, but Christians have vowed not to allow the atrocity to create tension with the Muslim community.
Fr Patrick Devine SMA, originally from Co. Roscommon and with over 25 years’ experience in Eastern Africa, said the attack on the university by al-Shabab extremists which killed 148 lives, was “murder on a scale that horrifies the whole world”.
“Targeting young vulnerable innocent students embarking heroically on their journey of life and educational fulfillment is particularly horrific,” he said, and it weighed on people’s minds as they commemorated Christ’s crucifixion.
“Everyone is conscious of the trauma and pain for the families, but there is no sense of revenge from Christians and Muslims have condemned it.”
Fr Devine, who is executive chairman of the Shalom Centre for Conflict Resolution and Reconciliation (SCCRR), said everyone must “give particular attention to dangers associated with religionisation of politics and the politicisation of religion”.
“Systematic education, particularly in respect to freedom and tolerance in the framework of human rights and responsibility, is so important to a safer interconnected world. Education is critical in this process in order to counter radicalisation whose extremism goes beyond the repulsion of killing to engage in mass murder,” he said.