The human cost of the violence in northern Mozambique is laid bare in a number of eyewitness accounts of the fighting, and its aftermath, that Evangelicals Now has obtained from local Christians.
Several atrocities have recently taken place, with dozens of civilians being killed and at least 11,000 displaced after militants invaded Palma, Cabo Delgado on 24 March.
One example was when 170 people attempting to escape from a hotel were ambushed by militant Islamists – at least seven died and many are still missing. Tens of others were decapitated or shot in other incidents. But in early April the Mozambiquan military claimed to have regained full control of Palma, saying a ‘significant’ number of militants were killed in its counter-offensive.
Churches affected
Pastor Luciana, of Mountain of Praise Churches, is based in Pemba, Cabo Delgado. Of his 23 churches, ten are in troubled areas. He personally knows three families, 14 people plus children, who fled into the bush after their friends and families were butchered with guns and machetes. One of the plants their church has made in Palma cannot be reached on the phone, and he has no idea what has happened to its pastor and other believers. But those are not the only problems Christians face now. Luciana says: ‘The situation is very chaotic. People face dietary difficulties, health problems, hunger, diarrhoea, malaria and Covid, and no jobs. Sometimes they receive food aid, but it is nowhere near enough’. He is also far less sanguine about the ability of the Mozambiquan Government to protect its citizens than is its army, saying: ‘The people lost confidence with their essentially unelected leaders many years ago. The people do not trust the government in this violence and suffering also. They are not caring for the people who are suffering so much’.
Mozambiquan businessman J. has colleagues based in Palma. He knows one man who was shot in the head when he encountered the militants as he was seeking refuge at the Total Oil compound in the Afungi area. Another, a victim of the hotel ambush, fell from his vehicle cabin as he tried to escape the militants’ attack. J. added: ‘Many other people are still missing and the lack of phone network in that area has made communications very difficult. Other people I know are running away to Tanzania, and others are still being rescued from the villages where they have been hiding’. He also asked UK Christians to pray for external military intervention to stop the brutal war.
Janet Phythian, from Kent, established The Growing Hope mission and nutrition programme in central Mozambique in 2018. She said: ‘We contacted church plants related to the churches we work with, to understand what help we can provide, now and longer term. All are very concerned about the situation. It has escalated from small skirmishes a few years ago to an out-of-control situation now, with no obvious way to find peace.
‘Peace is what the local population wants. Also, we pray for government support to lift them out of their extreme poverty, so it acts out of God’s love, providing them with health care, clean water, schools and support for agriculture and enterprise’.
