Somali students back in class
2009-12-14 11:59
Mogadishu - Students and teachers were back in class at Mogadishu's Benadir University on Monday, determined to continue lessons despite a suicide bombing at their medical graduation ceremony that killed 22 people.
Somalia's government blamed the December 3 attack on al Shabaab insurgents and said it was carried out by a 26-year-old Danish citizen of Somali descent. He entered the function disguised as a veiled woman before blowing himself up near the podium.
Three government ministers and 10 members of Benadir's faculty and students were among those killed. At least 35 people were injured, including five medical professors.
"I am happy and unhappy today," student Fatuma Hussein said in a classroom at the university, which reopened at the weekend. "We've restarted studies, but our top teachers aren't available. I was so sad when I saw what happened to our doctors."
The rebels had no interest in learning, she said, "but they enjoy killing the ones who are being constructive".
Al Shabaab, which the United States says is al-Qaeda's proxy in the Horn of Africa state, denied being behind the bombing. But few Somalis believed them, and the UN envoy to Somalia said it was "outrageous" to suggest anyone else was to blame.
Western security agencies say the country has become a safe haven for militants, including foreign jihadists, who use it to plot attacks across the region and beyond.
Financially incapable
From his bed at Nairobi's Aga Khan hospital, where he was rushed for treatment, Dr Mohammed Mohamud, dean of Benadir's medical college, said he was certain al Shabaab leaders had masterminded the carnage.
The 48-year-old sobbed as he recounted the bombing at the graduation ceremony, holding his wounded hands up to his face.
"They do not care about Somalia's loss. They planned for this to happen, and it happened," Mohamud said. "Al Shabaab and their foreign criminal associates want to kill everyone who has a good heart and who can help this nation out of this dilemma."
Back at Benadir, medical student Abdirahman Hussein said the attack also put more pressure on the city's SOS hospital, where he and many of his classmates had been undertaking internships.
"The paediatric doctor there who lectures at Benadir lost an eye. The hospital's medical director also broke his hand and was hit by shrapnel in his stomach. Neither of them are working now," said Hussein, who suffered minor injuries in the blast.
Abdiqadir Yusuf Osman, dean of students' affairs and Islamic studies professor, said Benadir desperately needed funds.
"We are financially incapable of paying the injured medical teachers at the same time as the new doctors who will teach in their absence," he told said.