Twenty Christians were killed, about 2 000 were displaced,1 300 homes were destroyed and two churches were burned down by al-Shabab jihadists during a series of attacks in Nampala Village in northern Mozambique from October 9 to 12, says Open Doors Africa (ODA) in a media release.
Local pastors and a community leader told ODA that the deadly attacks on the town in the Chiúre district of Cabo Delgado Province, by the allegedly Islamic State-afilliated group, escalated after Mozambican Defence and Security Forces, who had tried to intervene, fled the scene.
These latest attacks in an area where about 450 000 people have been displaced following violent attacks since early last year, together with recently-published statements by ISIS, confirm the intent of jihadist groups to desolate the Church in Africa, says Lynette Leibach, executive director of ODA.
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“How many more incidents of destruction will occur before notice is taken? On behalf of our family of faith on the frontline, Open Doors’ call to the Christian Church in South Africa and the region is to take this situation seriously, courageously speak out, come to their aid and stand with them. The Arise Africa campaign to ‘Stop the violence, start the healing’ is a key opportunity to do this,” she says.
She said that representatives from the persecuted Church signed a declaration in Lomé, Togo, in September 2023, requesting action from governments, the Church in sub-Saharan Africa, the global Christian Church and the international community.
ODA says in its media release that considering al-Shabab’s alleged links to ISIS, it is alarmed by the following warning to Christians in Africa that was published by ISIS in a weekly newsletter earlier this month: “If the Christians of Africa wish to be safe and escape the cycle of killing, they should know that Islam grants them the ‘freedom’ to choose between three options. First: Islam – thus becoming our brothers in iman (faith), with the same rights and duties. Second: Paying the jizya (poll tax) in humiliation and submission – thereby preserving their blood and living securely in their villages. And third: If they refuse both Islam and the jizya – then death and expulsion, which they have been experiencing and suffering for years.”
Quoting an October 7 report by MEMRI Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor, ODA says that the ISIS editorial praises the group’s “jihad”, involving the targeting and killing of Christians in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Mozambique, while inciting ISIS adherents in Europe to “exact” what it calls a divine verdict against Christians in their own regions”.
Details of the recent brutal attack on Nampala Village by al-Shabab terorists were shared with ODA by there local leaders. ODA reports: “According to a local pastor (name withheld for security reasons), the situation quickly deteriorated when the Mozambican Defence and Security Forces withdrew from fighting the insurgents. ‘Everything got worse when the Defence and Security Forces tried to intervene without success. When they fled, they left everything worse for those people,’ the pastor told local Open Doors partners.
“An anonymous community leader also confirmed the events, sharing: ;Since the military were already in confrontation with terrorists, after they retreated, al-Shabab continued with great fury and attacks which caused all houses to be destroyed.’
“Another pastor, whose name also can’t be shared for security reasons, said: ‘We lament the sad death of four elderly sisters who were tied up and burnt inside a house by insurgents.’
“After the attacks, some villagers tried to return to see if anything could be salvaged – only to find the village empty, burnt-out buildings and two church buildings in ruin.”
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