The abuse of Islam is brining more pain, sorrow and blood as a regular trade-Mark, especially to the defenseless African poor

The burning of 18 churches in Cabo Delgado province by insurgents raises questions about the religious nature of Mozambique’s insurgency

In February, ISM mounted its largest sustained campaign of attacks on Christian property in Cabo Delgado province since the conflict began in 2017, claiming to have burned 18 churches in just three weeks. While ISM propaganda has always invoked the language of holy war against ‘infidels,’ these church burnings represent a novel effort to give effect to its rhetoric, consistent with other recent attempts to adopt the trappings of a real Islamic state.

The attacks were all concentrated in Chiúre district in southern Cabo Delgado, where insurgents launched an offensive in early February and spent much of the rest of the month marauding through villages, destroying buildings, and murdering civilians. In the IS newspaper al-Naba and on social media, insurgents claimed to have burned a total of 18 churches in nine villages in Chiúre. Many of these claims were accompanied by photos of fighters setting light to the churches and demolishing other Christian icons, such as crucifixes.

In a meeting of local church representatives, Dom António Juliasse, the Bishop of Pemba, said Christians in Cabo Delgado were living in a state of persecution, according to a Brazilian missionary who was present. Juliasse reportedly said that the church of Pemba was going through a “moment of tribulation” and that the diocese would refuse to pay any ransoms to free Christian hostages as this would only feed the insurgency — and that President Nyusi had been unhappy at a ransom having been paid by the previous bishop of Pemba, Dom Luís Lisboa, for the release of two Brazilian nuns abducted in Mocímboa da Praia in 2020.