Mozambique (MNN) — Islamic terrorists continue to rampage in northern Mozambique. UN authorities report that there are more than 780,000 displaced people, most of whom have been uprooted in the past seven years of insurgent attacks within the country.
But since January an increase of violence forced at least 80,000 more from their homes. (More on that here.)
Todd Nettleton with Voice of the Martyrs USA says, “The terrorist group that is active in northern Mozambique did pledge allegiance, as they say, to ISIS, which really established what their motivations were. They want to have an Islamic caliphate or an Islamic nation in northern Mozambique.”
Map of Mozambique. The area with the most violence is shown in red.
(Photo by Profoss, CC 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons)
In addition to facing widespread displacement, Christians are being specifically sought out and killed. One of VOM’s partners was on one such bus that was stopped at a checkpoint manned by the terrorists.
“They asked the driver, ‘Do you have any Christians on the bus?’ The driver said ‘No, all my passengers are Muslims.’ He then apparently handed them a little bit of money to get through the checkpoint,” Nettleton says.
“If you stand up for your faith, if you say ‘I am a Christian. I will not become a Muslim,’ your life is in danger, just riding a bus.”
But the brutality has been largely underreported, except as it affects Mozambique’s oil production.
“When pastors are being targeted, when Christians are being killed, that seems less important to the media, than the flow of oil,” Nettleton says.
You can help Christians in Mozambique through VOM USA here. Pray for the pastors and laypeople who have chosen to remain even though it means risking death.
“They are suffering greatly. There are pastors who are continuing in ministry, in spite of the danger in spite of the risk, but that is certainly not what this ISIS group wants to have happen,” Nettleton says.
Header photo of believers in Mozambique courtesy of Voice of the Martyrs USA.
