Garissa ( so, Gaarrisa) is the capital of

Garissa County Garissa County is an administrative county in Kenya. Its capital and largest urban area is Garissa. The county had a population of 841,353 at the 2019 Census, and a land area of about .2019 Kenya Population and Housing Census, Volume 2. Demogra ...

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

. It is situated in the former North Eastern Province.

Geography

The Tana River, which rises in

Mount Kenya Mount Kenya (Kikuyu: ''Kĩrĩnyaga'', Kamba, ''Ki Nyaa'') is the highest mountain in Kenya and the second-highest in Africa, after Kilimanjaro. The highest peaks of the mountain are Batian (), Nelion () and Point Lenana (). Mount Kenya is locat ...

east of

Nyeri Nyeri is a town situated in the Central Highlands of Kenya. It is the county headquarters of Nyeri County. The town was the central administrative headquarters of the country's former Central Province. Following the dissolution of the former pr ...

, flows through the Garissa. The

Bour-Algi Giraffe Sanctuary The Bour-Algi Giraffe Sanctuary is a community-based conservation and natural resource management initiative. The sanctuary is located in Garissa County, Kenya, in the area surrounding the village of Bour-Algi, 5 km south of Garissa town. The ...

, situated 5 km south of Garissa, is home to endangered wildlife including the Rothschild giraffe,

gerenuk The gerenuk (; so, garanuug; ''Litocranius walleri''), also known as the giraffe gazelle, is a long-necked antelope found in parts of East Africa. The sole member of the genus ''Litocranius'', the gerenuk was first described by the naturalist ...

and other herbivores including

Kirk's dik-dik Kirk's dik-dik (''Madoqua kirkii'') is a small antelope native to Eastern Africa and one of four species of dik-dik antelope. It is believed to have six subspecies and possibly a seventh existing in southwest Africa. Dik-diks are herbivores, typi ...

lesser kudu The lesser kudu (''Tragelaphus imberbis'') is a bushland antelope found in East Africa. It is placed in the genus ''Tragelaphus'' and family Bovidae. It was first scientifically described by the English zoologist Edward Blyth in 1869. The head- ...

warthog ''Phacochoerus'' is a genus in the family Suidae, commonly known as warthogs (pronounced ''wart-hog''). They are pigs who live in open and semi-open habitats, even in quite arid regions, in sub-Saharan Africa. The two species were formerly co ...

and

waterbuck The waterbuck (''Kobus ellipsiprymnus'') is a large antelope found widely in sub-Saharan Africa. It is placed in the genus '' Kobus'' of the family Bovidae. It was first described by Irish naturalist William Ogilby in 1833. Its 13 subspecies ar ...

Demographics

The town recorded a population of 119,696 in the 2009 census, which rose to 163,399 in 2019. Most of Garissa's inhabitants are ethnic Somali.

Economy

Garissa is a market centre and the commercial hub of the

. The town has a university, Garissa University College and a number of colleges including Medical College. In December 2019, the

Garissa Solar Power Station Garissa Power Station is a solar power plant in Kenya. Location The power station is located in Garissa County about , north of the town of Garissa. This is approximately by road, north-east of Nairobi, the country's capital and largest city. ...

was inaugurated, providing grid power to Garissa town. Banks with a presence in Garissa include the

Gulf African Bank Gulf African Bank (GAB), whose full name is Gulf African Bank Limited, is a commercial bank in Kenya operating under an Islamic banking regime. It is licensed by the Central Bank of Kenya, the central bank and national banking regulator. the b ...

situated in the Al-Wayf Quran House, the

Postbank Postbank or Post bank may refer to: Postal savings systems (alphabetical by country) * Bulgarian Postbank, a Bulgarian retail bank * Chunghwa Post, a Taiwanese postal service that provides savings account services * Deutsche Postbank, a German reta ...

in the Garissa Shopping Centre, and the

First Community Bank First Community Bank (FCB), is a commercial bank in Kenya, the largest economy in the East African Community. It is licensed by the Central Bank of Kenya, the central bank and national banking regulator. Overview , the bank's total assets were v ...

(FCB) in the Bajwed Building. Other banks with branches in the city include

Absa Bank Absa Group Limited (ABGL; formerly Barclays Africa Group Limited), and originally Amalgamated Banks of South Africa, is a South African-based financial services group, offering personal and business banking, credit cards, corporate and invest ...

, Equity Bank,

Kenya Commercial Bank KCB Bank Kenya Limited is a financial services provider headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya. It is licensed as a commercial bank, by the Central Bank of Kenya, the national banking regulator. The bank has also been running Agency banking mode ...

National Bank of Kenya National Bank of Kenya (NBK), also known as National Bank, is a commercial bank in Kenya, the largest economy in the East African Community. It is licensed by the Central Bank of Kenya, the central bank, and national banking regulator. Effectiv ...

Chase Bank JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., doing business as Chase Bank or often as Chase, is an American national bank headquartered in New York City, that constitutes the consumer and commercial banking subsidiary of the U.S. multinational banking and fina ...

and

Cooperative Bank of Kenya Co-operative Bank of Kenya is a commercial bank in Kenya, the largest economy in the East African Community. It is licensed by the Central Bank of Kenya, the central bank and national banking regulator. The bank has introduced Agency banking m ...

. Livestock production is a significant part of the town's economy. Between 2005 and 2007, Garissa cattle producers earned over 1.8 billion shillings in sales in domestic and overseas markets. Construction on a new abattoir also began in October 2007. In terms of livestock imports, most of Garissa's cattle comes from cross-border trade between Somali livestock merchants.

2015 terrorist attack

On 2 April 2015, gunmen stormed the Garissa University College, killing 147 people and injuring at least 79. The militant group and Al-Qaeda offshoot, Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack. The gunmen took over 700 students hostage, freeing Muslims and killing those who identified as Christians. The siege ended the same day, when all four of the attackers were killed. Five men were later arrested in connection with the attack, and a bounty was placed for the arrest of a suspected organizer, Mohamed Mahmoud, also known as Dulyadeyn. Dulyadeyn was later killed by U.S.-trained Somali commandos from the Somali National Army on the night of May 31, 2016 in Bulo Gadud, a town loyal to Al-Shabaab, about 30 kilometers north of the port of Kismayo in Somalia. The Garissa University attack was the second deadliest terrorist attack in Kenyan history since independence (after the

1998 United States embassy bombings The 1998 United States embassy bombings were attacks that occurred on August 7, 1998. More than 200 people were killed in nearly simultaneous truck bomb explosions in two East African cities, one at the United States Embassy in Dar es Salaam, ...

in Nairobi, in which 213 people were killed).

Governance

As the capital of

, Garissa is the seat of the County Government of Garissa as well as the County Assembly. The Governor of the county is Nathif Jama . The city is represented by Aden Bare Duale, a Somali

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for the

Garissa Township Constituency Garissa Township Constituency (formerly Garissa Central/Dujis Constituency) is an electoral constituency in Kenya. It is one of six constituencies in Garissa County Garissa County is an administrative county in Kenya. Its capital and largest ur ...

in the

National Assembly of Kenya The National Assembly of the Republic of Kenya is one of the two Houses of the Parliament of Kenya. Between 1966 and 2013, it served as a unicameral house. In 2013 ( 11th Parliament), it became the lower house when the Senate was reestablis ...

. He was elected to the position in the Kenya National Assembly through the United Republican Party, an affiliate party of the

Jubilee Alliance The Jubilee Alliance was a political alliance in Kenya. History The alliance was established to support the joint presidential election ticket of Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto in the 2013 general elections. At the time of the election, its me ...

. He currently serves as the Majority Leader in the Parliament. During the colonial era, Garissa, as well as other parts of NFD, were collectively conferred to as the British East Africa province of ''Trans-juba'', and would subsequently be referred to as Jubaland, which split into two in the mid 1920s.Mwangi, Oscar Gakuo. "Jubaland: Somalia’s new security dilemma and state-building efforts." Africa Review 8.2 (2016): 120-132.

Accommodation

Several establishments in the city offer accommodation. Among these hotels and guest houses are the Almond Hotel, Xiddig Hotel and Nomad Palace Hotel.

Climate

Garissa has a

hot arid climate The desert climate or arid climate (in the Köppen climate classification ''BWh'' and ''BWk''), is a dry climate sub-type in which there is a severe excess of evaporation over precipitation. The typically bald, rocky, or sandy surfaces in desert ...

(

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

''BWh''), despite receiving around of rainfall per year, due to the extremely high potential evapotranspiration. Garissa's landscape is mostly arid, desert terrain. The city lies along the Tana River, and has a hot climate due to the low elevation and distance from cooler coastal areas. The daytime temperature typically rises above every day, but cools down every night.

Notes

{{Authority control Populated places in Garissa County County capitals in Kenya Tana River (Kenya)