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Indiscriminate attacks on villages: religious conflict fomented in Mozambique

Mozambique

The attacks on the villages and towns of Cabo Delgado, in Mozambique, continue unabated. More and more violent. "According to international media, the attacks are carried out by Islamists linked to ISIS". However, not only Christians are afraid of being victims of these senseless assaults, the Islamic community is also terrified.

 

Some militiamen captured by the police have confessed to having joined the group because they were offered money. Certainly there are also foreigners: Tanzanians or Mozambicans who have been to Tanzania and have returned. For this reason, the law enforcement officials have tightened border controls”.

Local Muslims – Fides news agency’s source – have never shown violent or intolerant attitudes. Islam has merged with local culture and has given rise to an open and tolerant faith.

Relations between Christians and Muslims have always been friendly. “There is great mutual respect, full tolerance. We work and live together in serenity”, the missionaries continue. “The first victims of these attacks are Muslims”.

So much so that the Islamic community is terrified. But even Christians are afraid of being victims of these senseless assaults.

In the last two assaults carried out last week, one at the police headquarters in the city of Quissanga, in the northern province of Cabo Delgado, and the other at the Defense and Security Forces barracks in Mocimboa da Praia, the militiamen apparently hoisted the black flag of the Caliphate. Doubts remain about a war with a religious background or that wants to use the religious factor to forment violence.

The attacks began in October 2017 and since then there have been between 350 and 700 victims. The violence forced 150,000 people to leave their homes and caused a cholera epidemic that killed at least 20 people. “The latest attacks were very well planned – Fides sources point out – the government structures have been burnt in a systematic way. The religious nature emerged only recently. In Mozambique it is thought that there are particular interests that are hidden behind religious coverage”.

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