“On October 30th, the terrorists returned to occupy the Muidumbe district, where our mission is located”, the missionary said. “The entire population has fled into the bush. We took refuge in Pemba”.

During this period, the entire area remained under the insurgents’ control until they left the Catholic mission on November 19th. Only then it was possible to verify what had happened.

Fr Silva writes that “everything has been destroyed. The house in which we lived was burned to ashes (…) the entire equipment was burned, the parish seat destroyed, the community radio set on fire, the nuns’ house destroyed”.

As a result of the violence of the insurgents and the massacres they have committed against civilians, the indigenous population is also suffering.

“Many bodies were found on the way and the places of the massacres uncovered. The terrorists’ actions are violent, several people were beheaded and executed, houses burned down and destroyed,” reports Fr. Silva. “People cannot find their families. There is talk of many massacres and at least 500,000 displaced.”

Additionally, the humanitarian situation is aggravated by a cholera epidemic and Covid-19.

Source: Fides.org