海角大神

Panic overtook Moi University in late October when local police announced that four聽missing students聽were suspected of joining Al Shabaab, the Somali-based terror group.

As word spread, students' cell phones lit up with聽unsubstantiated rumors that the four students were leading the Islamist militants to attack the campus. 聽

鈥淭here was a student missing from class today ... I think he鈥檚 the one coming to attack us,鈥� read one text message that Kinyua Njeri, a Moi University education student received. Another student told him over the phone that the attackers had already breached campus security.

Thousands fled from the campus of more than 24,000 students, fanning across the city of Eldoret in western Kenya and taking refuge at the homes of friends and family. At the time, it was not clear if any of the rumors were true, but no one wanted to be slow to react 鈥撀爊ot after Al Shabaab gunned down 148 students at Garissa University College in northeastern Kenya in April.

鈥淓veryone really freaked out [because] the students just don鈥檛 trust universities to protect them,鈥� says Mr. Njeri who hosted聽as many as聽five friends聽each night聽in his tiny off-campus room聽before they returned to campus a week later.

For Njeri, the Moi Univesity incident was emblematic of a new reality for Kenya's university students: they believe their campuses are easy targets for Al Shabaab attacks聽鈥撀燼nd the government is doing little to protect them.聽

Indeed, there聽is聽a growing frustration among students about how the Kenya police, and their own universities, have prioritized school security since the Garissa attack. Student groups have been at the forefront of demanding for increased security. They've also pushed for deradicalization programs to prevent Al Shabaab recruiting from universities. These are signs of a growing distrust of the country's security forces' ability to protect them.

鈥淚t's only fair because if we are the victims and we are also the targets then at least we could come up with the solutions,鈥� says Michael Opondo, a law student聽at Kenyatta University in Nairobi and founder of聽the International Youth Action Against Terrorism to聽combat radicalization and improve security on Kenyan campuses.聽聽

鈥淲e are basically looking out for ourselves.鈥�

Protecting themselves

The outsized sense of responsibility among students to protect themselves is seen through different on-campus initiatives that have sprung up since the Garissa attack.

Student leaders at the University of Nairobi,聽one of the largest in Kenya,聽host聽regular聽forums on terrorism and campus security. They have also worked with administrators to increase the number of security guards and to provide training for identifying suspicious activities on campus.聽Their campaigns have bred result: the main campus, once a breezy thoroughfare, is now manned by security guards who check student ID's and search backpacks.聽

Another group, the Universities and Colleges Students鈥� Peace Association of Kenya, started what they call the 鈥淶ero Radicalization Campaign." The group works to prevent radicalization on campuses. And prompted by the scare in October, student leaders at Moi University lobbied the administration to host a deradicalization workshop this week, the first of its kind after months of asking for one,聽says Jared Mogire, the school's student body chairman.

"We have done well because we have been able to convince the university to make those accommodations," he says. "But this is only the start, we must continue to improve things because security is something you must be continually vigilante about in Kenya."

While commendable, student-led efforts聽underscore the distrust between all Kenyans and their security forces, not just students, says聽Irene Ndungu a researcher at the Institute for Security Studies in Nairobi.聽

鈥淵outh can and should be engaged as partners, she says. "But responsibility for campus security ultimately lies with those responsible for the physical security of all Kenyans."

Government response聽

Much of the distrust towards Kenya鈥檚 security forces stems from the Garissa attack itself. A police聽special tactical unit didn't arrive on the scene until聽seven hours after the shooting had started. In the following days, the government聽admitted that it had ignored intelligence of an impending attack.

鈥淭here was lack of coordination on the side of the officers,鈥� Kenya's Interior Minister聽Joseph Nkaissery said to a parliamentary committee shortly after the attack.

The police have since increased measures聽to avoid another attack like Garissa, says聽George Kinoti, spokesman for the National Police Service (NPS). He says there is now a "clear command structure" in place as they continue to improve measures.

On Wednesday, the NPS will conduct its first on-campus safety training at the聽United States International University. The training will "practically show them ways to disarm [and] how to fight [terrorists],鈥� says Mr. Kinoti, adding that it will help decrease the number of casualties. The NPS plans to roll out the program across聽all universities and colleges.

But Njeri, the Moi University student who hosted friends in his off-campus room during the recent scare, remains skeptical. After students returned to class, the police presence and random security checks increased.聽But two weeks later, they have already gone, further eroding student faith in the longevity of such changes.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 know that they鈥檝e taken any measures at all," Njeri says. "They should get scared like we are scared, and take action.鈥澛�