New jihadist attacks in Mozambique target missionaries

A fresh offensive by jihadists in northern Mozambique are forcing priests, nuns and other Church workers to flee to cities already overwhelmed by more than a million internally displaced people. 

Islamic militants on February 12 attacked the port town of Pemba torching Our Lady of Africa Mazeze’s church, rectory and offices, as well as destroying  critical infrastructure such as the hospital, market. According to ACI Africa, a Catholic news agency, the parish priest, in an interview with Radio Pax of the Catholic Archdiocese of Beira, reported that there were no casualties but that the only items he managed to save from the fire were the Blessed Sacrament and the books of sacraments, baptisms, and marriages.

Other sources told the Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need that the attacks targeted Christian communities, compelling priests, nuns, and other Church personnel to seek refuge in cities.

The northern Mozambique crisis, which started in 2017, is mainly contained in the rich in natural gas province of Cabo Delgado, although the Islamist militant movement here is continuing to spread to nearby provinces despite efforts by government and regional forces to contain it. Armed members of the Islamic State attack unarmed civilians. More than a million individuals have been uprooted by in this bloody conflict and some 4,000 people have been killed over the past four years. The Diocese of Pemba that falls under Cabo Delgado province is hit hard by militants, with the parish that was attacked falling within this diocese.

The violence against defenseless populations, the destruction of infrastructure, and insecurity are again rampant in the province of Cabo Delgado, Mozambique, where the Catholic mission of Our Lady of Africa in Mazezeze was also set on fire in recent days, Pope Francis said after the Sunday Angelus prayer at St. Peter’s Square February 18. 

Let us not forget: war is a defeat, always. Wherever there is warfare, the populations are exhausted, they are tired of war, which is always pointless and inconclusive, and brings only death, only destruction, and will never lead to the solution to problems, said Francis, who visited Mozambique in September 2019.