The former bishop of Pemba in Mozambique, has admitted that the death threats he received, and which forced the Pope to transfer him back to his native Brazil, came from the government and not from extremist groups that have sown terror in the region over the past three years.
In an interview with The Tablet, Bishop Luiz Fernando Lisboa confirmed he had been transferred due to threats to his life, and hinted that some had come from the government, although he was vague on the matter.
Now, however, he has told Italian newspaper La Reppublica that the government wanted to silence his outspoken criticism of the way the crisis in Cabo Delgado, Pemba, has been handled.
“It was the Government. First, I was threatened with expulsion, then with having my documents seized and, finally, with death.”
Asked why the Government wanted to keep him quiet, he responded: “Maputo denied there was a war since the beginning. When the conflict and the danger became impossible to neglect, it forbade people from talking about it. Journalists were forbidden from doing their work.
“A reporter has been missing since April, last year. He worked for a local radio and had covered the war. In his last message he said he had been cornered by the police. The church was the only institution talking about the issue, and that upset the government.
“Above all, it didn’t tolerate news leaving the state. For reasons of national pride or business. When the bishops conference issued a document condemning what was going on the authorities were livid and started sullying my name.”
Before his transfer back to Brazil to the diocese of Cachoeiro de Itapemiri, the bishop visited Pope Francis, who offered him support. “He clearly had more information than I did. He knew the danger I was in and offered me the transfer to Brazil.”
An Islamist insurgency has caused thousands of dead and tens of thousands of refugees in Cabo Delgado, northern Mozambique. After three years the problem has begun to garner more attention on the international stage, with many countries offering support and aid to counter the terrorists.
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