Cabo Delgado attacks afflict ‘moral conscience’ of Mozambique

Archbishop Inácio Saure of Nampula said the attacks defied Mozambique’s ‘culture of peaceful coexistence between people of different faiths and our experience of living in peace’.

Bishops in Mozambique warned that “violence is out of control” in the Cabo Delgado region where nearly a decade of fighting with jihadist groups has left thousands dead and many more displaced.

According to government officials, insurgents from the Islamic State – Central Africa Province have attacked unarmed Christian communities and destroyed churches in pursuit of a secessionist campaign to establish and Islamist state in the northern province.

In a statement issued on 13 May, the Episcopal Conference of Mozambique (CEM) said the bishops were “following with deep concern the situation of terrorism raging in our country, with its epicentre in Cabo Delgado since 5 October 2017, which has already caused 6,527 deaths and over one million internally displaced persons, leaving vast areas in ruins”.

Attacks have escalated in recent months, disrupting the pastoral work of Catholic missions and agencies, forcing priests and workers to flee from their stations as the government struggles to restore control of the province. Many civilians have fled to the provincial capital Pemba.

“We received with deep sadness the news of profanations, destruction and attacks against Christian churches and religious symbols,” the bishops said, noting that the assaults were not only affecting Christian communities but were also a blight on “the moral conscience” of the country.

On 30 April, militants attacked the St Louis de Montfort Church in Minhoene village, near Meza in Cabo Delgado. They burned down the church along with ancillary buildings, though nobody was reported killed in the attack.

“It was a scene of terror. Homes, infrastructure, all destroyed, and the historic parish reduced to rubble,” Bishop António Juliasse of Pemba told Aid to the Church in Need. “Civilians were captured and forced to watch and listen to speeches of hatred.”

CEM president Archbishop Inácio Saure of Nampula said the attack defied Mozambique’s “culture of peaceful coexistence between people of different faiths and our experience of living in peace”.

“Let the destruction and the killing cease. Let the incitement of hatred against Christians cease – and may we not allow space for Islamophobia either, because the Muslims are not our enemies, they are our beloved brethren.”

The Islamic Community of Mozambique (ICM) condemned the attack on the church, saying the militants did not represent any Islamic values and expressing “solidarity with the Catholic community”.

In a statement addressed to Bishop Juliasse, the ICM said that “faith should never be used to justify violence, fear or division”.

The bishop called the statement a “sign of hope and a symbol of human fraternity” which “helps us to distinguish the Muslim religion from those who attempt to radicalise it and use it to spread messages of hatred, death and destruction”.

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