Mozambique: Over 20 Islamic groups reject violence which killed Catholic missionary – Lusa

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Mozambique: Over 20 Islamic groups reject violence which killed Catholic missionary – Lusa

4:42 CAT | 15 Sep 2022

FILE - For illustration purposes only. [File photo: Lusa]

A group of 23 Islamic organisations in Mozambique on Thursday published a manifesto in the country’s main daily newspaper Notícias repudiating recent armed attacks in Nampula, in which an Italian Catholic missionary was killed.

“The Muslim communities in Mozambique vehemently reject these acts and urge the government to take additional and urgent measures to put an end to this evil once and for all,” the statement said.

The issue at stake is the attack on 6 September carried out by an unknown armed group in Chipene, Memba district, Nampula province, in the north of the country.

The attackers are suspected to have come from Cabo Delgado and crossed the Lúrio river, fleeing the armed offensive in that province.

The insurgency that has been raging in the region for five years and has led to the suspension of gas projects, the biggest private investment in Africa, has been linked at various times to Islamic extremist actions.

But the organisations signing today’s manifesto distance the violence from any beliefs, as the Islamic majority in Cabo Delgado has stressed since the conflict began.

“Any acts of violence are incompatible with the principles of human coexistence and violate the ideals that have always guided the cultural and religious diversity of the various communities,” they stress.

The secretary of state for Nampula, Mety Gondola, said on Thursday that the authorities had strengthened security in the face of new attacks in the far north of that Mozambican province, ensuring that institutions were operating in the affected areas.

READ: Mozambique: Nampula provincial government beefs up security after attacks

Source: Lusa