Signs of an old empire, Creative Commons
It’s been remarkable that few if any mainstream media outlets seem to have awareness or care for reporting recent news filtering out of Cabo Delgardo region in northern Mozambique.
Murray Smith
Violent attacks began in Cabo Delgado province in 2017 but as it’s progressively ebbed and flowed with escalating agitation over the last month or two, more than 6000 people have now died with thousands more being displaced. Sadly, it’s ongoing with little containment of the evil being perpetuated.
Cabo Delgado is the only area in the country with a majority Muslim population. The nation at large has seen a growing interest in Christianity with a significant portion claiming adherence to faith and it’s in this context that a radical Islamist terror group seeking to assert itself in the north, has particularly targeted Christian believers.
The Islamic State Mozambique Province, which is reigning through fear and violence, recently boasted about destroying at least seven churches, committing acts of arson against Christians and village civilians, shooting and beheading more than two dozen people in the provinces of Cabo Delgado and Nampula. Many have been forced from homes and villages which have been burned to the ground, with survivors fleeing to seek shelter in refugee camps.
Violent recruiting atrocities among the poorest of the poor are traumatising the population as eye-witness accounts of many being shot and beheaded multiply.
Road sign in Palma, Cabo Delgado, Mozambique. Photo: Creative Commons
If they will not comply and won’t radicalise, children and wives are being forced to watch these terrorists butcher and behead the men who refuse to follow them.
Brutal attacks by murderous assailants hacking and dismembering helpless people have reached a point that in order to counter violence in local villages, Mozambique renewed an alliance with Rwanda in late August. In the Status of Force Agreement, Rwanda’s Defence Force agreed to send troops into Cabo Delgado as radical Islamic terrorism runs rampant.
Having stayed and worked on two separate occasions in this part of Mozambique with teams supporting the Iris Ministries base, I’ve been impacted forever by the beautiful Mozambican Christians and their perspective on life; but also on death as well, since for years through civil war, persecution and now Islamic insurgency, longevity is far from an expectation.
Death and mourning are a sad part of life here but their joy-filled Christian faith and understanding of heaven, balms deep sorrow. Some years ago, while staying in Pemba, I received news that my dad had died unexpectedly back home in New Zealand. This hard and unexpected blow was exacerbated by the feeling of distance and isolation. I went out to sit on a rocky outcrop in the orphanage grounds overlooking the Indian Ocean where I wept silently in the moonlight. I felt a little hand slip under my arm and heard the voice of a small Mozambican boy asking, “Mister, why do you cry?”
I told him I’d received news of my father’s death. He put his head on my shoulder, paused then said softly, “I have no father… no mother.” Compassion surged for that little orphan boy seeking to comfort me with the comfort he’d drawn from God through his own story of grief. Encountering him changed my perspective forever.
Bridge_over_Rio_Lurio, Cabo Delgado. Signs of an old empire. Photo: Creative Commons
