RLPB 662. Mozambique: Jihad Resumes; Catholic Mission Targeted

Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 662 | Wed 14 Sep 2022
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MOZAMBIQUE: JIHAD RESUMES; CATHOLIC MISSION TARGETED
By Elizabeth Kendal

Sister Maria (front right)

Late on the night of Tuesday 6 September, Islamic jihadists attacked the Catholic mission in Chipene city, Memba District, in northern Mozambique’s Nampula Province. They burned much of the mission, including the church, the hospital, the primary and secondary schools, the dormitory and the new computer room. Four Christians were killed in the attack, including Sister Maria De Coppi (84), a nun with the Comboni order who had been living a life of service in Mozambique since 1963. Hoping to reach the dormitory to alert the students, Sister Maria ran out into what must have seemed like a war zone. The terrorists saw her and killed her with a shot to her head. Two other nuns escaped to raise the alarm. Six people were beheaded and three were abducted. Islamic State claimed responsibility and explained in a statement posted to Telegram, that they killed the nun because she was ‘too committed to spreading Christianity’. As His Exc. Msgr. Inacio Saure, Archbishop of Nampula remarked, ‘If the statement is authentic, then Sister Maria is truly a martyr for the faith.’

Twelve months ago, after nearly four years of jihad, the situation in northern Mozambique seemed to have turned a corner. Two years ago, in August 2020, the jihadists seized control of Mocimboa da Praia, a port city in Cabo Delgado Province in Mozambique’s majority Muslim far north. Discovered in 2010, the gas fields off the coast of Cabo Delgado are the third largest proven gas reserves in Africa after Nigeria and Algeria. The jihad – which erupted in October 2017 – could derail Mozambique’s economic development and destabilise the wider region. Consequently, in June 2021, the 16-member Southern African Development Community (SADC) approved the deployment of troops to Mozambique to help combat the increasingly sophisticated Islamic insurgency [RLPB 543 (1 April 2020)]. By 8 August 2021 Rwandan and Mozambican troops had liberated Mocimboa da Praia. Four days later the governor of Cabo Delgado declared the city safe, even as SADC continued its counter-terror operations across the country’s north [RLPB 612 (25 Aug 2021)].

click on map to enlarge.
Green underlines:
districts attacked through August.
Red circles: districts attacked
on 2,4 and 6 September.
Original map source

By August 2022, the jihadists had regrouped and relaunched their campaign. Their strategy has been to conduct hit-and-run raids on undefended villages across multiple districts to keep the military and police off-balance. On 19 August Islamic State released videos from both the Democratic Republic of Congo and Mozambique, in which jihadists in each country call for attacks on Christians and warn that jihad will continue until Islamic Sharia Law is applied and non-Muslims pay the jizya/tax (protection money for the right to life; Quran Sura 9:29). In early September the jihadist pushed further south than ever before, attacking communities in Nampula Province, south of Cabo Delgado. On Friday night 2 September, the jihadists attacked the village of Kutua in Erati District. On Sunday 4 September they attacked the village of Naminhanha in Memba District. On Tuesday night 6 September they attacked the Catholic mission in Chipene, which is also in Memba District; four Christians were killed, six victims were beheaded, three others were abducted, the expansive Catholic mission and dozens of homes were torched and thousands more citizens were displaced.

On Thursday 8 September the European Union – which is desperate to find alternative sources of gas – offered financial support of 15 million euros to the SADC Mission in Mozambique. While the crisis is complex and multi-layered, most Mozambicans insist that Islamic radicalisation – courtesy of fundamentalist Salafi/Wahhabi preachers – plays a major part. A detailed background which unpacks the ethnic, religious, historical, political, and economic context of the jihad in northern Mozambique can be found on Religious Liberty Monitoring, ‘Mozambique: A Crisis in the Making,’ 13 May 2020. Only by addressing the issues at the root of Muslim disaffection in Cabo Delgado can the government make a lie of the victimhood narrative used by Islamists to recruit youths into jihad.


PLEASE PRAY THAT OUR MERCIFUL GOD WILL

* protect vulnerable Christians, churches and Christian ministries and missions across northern Mozambique as the jihadists relaunch their terror with a vengeance; may the Lord comfort and sustain the believers in Chipene, especially those connected to the Catholic mission based there. Lord have mercy!

* grace Mozambique’s President Filipe Nyusi with wisdom, discernment and courage to tackle the issues at the root of Muslim disaffection in the remote north – everything from injustice and marginalisation to radicalisation; may peace return to northern Mozambique.

* intervene in Mozambique to guide and assist the African counter-terrorism forces for the sake of the Church, the Gospel, and every Mozambican who desires harmony and freedom. Lord have mercy!

* move powerfully in Mozambique’s Church that she might rise to the occasion presented to her to be prayerful, generous and active – compelled by sacrificial love of neighbour; may believers reach out to assist not only their fellow believers, but all who are displaced and traumatised across the north – including hundreds of thousands of traumatised, peace-seeking Muslim families. May the Lord be pleased to use his Church to redeem this crisis for his glory.

‘The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective’ (James 5:16b NIV).


SUMMARY FOR BULLETINS UNABLE TO RUN THE WHOLE ARTICLE
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MOZAMBIQUE: JIHAD RESUMES; CATHOLIC MISSION TARGETED

Having regrouped, Islamic State jihadists are again terrorising northern Mozambique. On 19 August Islamic State released a video calling for attacks on Christians in Mozambique and warning that jihad will continue until Islamic Sharia Law is applied and non-Muslims pay the jizya/tax (protection money). On 6 September they attacked the Catholic mission in Chipene city, Memba District, Nampula Province – further south than ever before. Four Christians were killed, including Sister Maria De Coppi (84), a nun who had served in Mozambique since 1963. Jihadists claimed they shot her in the head because she was ‘too committed to spreading Christianity’. Six people were beheaded and three were abducted. The mission’s church, hospital, primary and secondary schools, dormitories and new computer lab were burned, as were dozens of homes. Everyone is traumatised. Please pray.

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Elizabeth Kendal is an international religious liberty analyst and advocate for the persecuted Church. To support this ministry visit www.ElizabethKendal.com.

Elizabeth has authored two books: Turn Back the Battle: Isaiah Speaks to Christians Today (Deror Books, Melbourne, Australia, Dec 2012) which offers a Biblical response to persecution and existential threat; and After Saturday Comes Sunday: Understanding the Christian Crisis in the Middle East (Wipf and Stock, Eugene, OR, USA, June 2016). She is also an Adjunct Research Fellow at the Arthur Jeffery Centre for the Study of Islam at Melbourne School of Theology.

For more information visit: www.ElizabethKendal.com 

RLPB 661, Papua, Indonesia: Entering the 'End Game'

Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 661 | Wed 07 Sep 2022
RLPB is published weekly to facilitate strategic intercessory prayer.

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PAPUA, INDONESIA: ENTERING THE ‘END GAME’
By Elizabeth Kendal

BETRAYED AND ABANDONED: After World War Two, Indonesia declared independence from the Netherlands, claiming all the Dutch East Indies as its territory, including ethnic Melanesian and non-Muslim Dutch/West New Guinea. In 1962 (during the Cold War -- timeline), the US J.F. Kennedy administration convinced its allies and the UN to legitimise Indonesian rule in the hope that the favour might keep Indonesia out the Soviet sphere of influence. Today, human rights affirming states continue to betray the Papuans – who now are predominantly Christian – by turning a blind eye to Indonesia’s colonisation, militarisation, exploitation and gross human rights abuses in the hope of retaining access to Indonesian markets (especially military markets) and keeping Indonesia out of China’s sphere of influence [NB: it’s not working]. In Papua, as in Iraq, ‘the Christian crisis is existential’. At the root of the problem is the empire’s greed for land and resources, along with a toxic racial-religious (Javanese-Muslim) supremacism that reduces the indigenous Melanesian Christians to despised infidel animals to be removed by any means. [RLPB 636, UN experts call for ‘urgent action’, 9 March 2022.]

BUTCHERED: On 26 August residents of Iwaka village, outside the town of Timika – the capital of Mimika Regency along the southern coast of Central Papua – found three mutilated, dismembered bodies in sacks floating down the Pigapu River. The body of a fourth victim – likewise dismembered and stuffed in a sack – was found on 30 August. According to the Indonesian police, at least one of the men was a separatist sympathiser, and the group had approached army personnel looking to buy weapons. [The Indonesian military’s illegal trade in weapons is a whole other story!] According to the police, instead of getting weapons, the Papuans were robbed, murdered, dismembered and disposed of in sacks thrown into the river. The police have promised a full investigation. Meanwhile, in Nduga Regency (a restive area in Highlands Papua), the victims’ families and Nduga’s Regent/head, Namia Gwijangge, tell a totally different story. It has been confirmed that the victims included the Nduga village chief, Irian Nirigi, and Arnold Lokbere, a co-signatory to the village bank account. The two had set out from Nduga for Timika on Monday 22 August to purchase building supplies and agricultural equipment. The two other victims – Atis Tini (23) and Lemaniol Nirigi (29) – had simply gone along for the ride. Gwijangge insists the four men were civilian citizens of Nduga Regency and that the Indonesian military ‘kills civilians in Papua like hunting animals’. Six Indonesian soldiers and three of four wanted civilians have been arrested. Gwijangge is pleading with Papuans not to retaliate and for Indonesia to bring the killers to justice.

DIVIDED: On 30 June the Indonesian government passed legislation to divide Papua Province into four administrative units, ignoring the will of the Papuan people [RLPB 639, Papuans Protest Planned Division, 30 March 2022]. While West Papua – i.e. the ‘Bird’s Head’ region – will remain unchanged, Papua will be divided into Papua (north coast; capital, Jayapura), Central Papua (capital, Nabire), Highland Papua (landlocked, capital Wamena), and South Papua (capital, Merauke). Adjoining West Papua, Central Papua is destined to become an economic powerhouse for Indonesia. Stretching from Nabire on the province’s north coast to Timika and Mimika Regency on the province’s south coast, Central Papua will encompass the Freeport’s Grasberg gold and copper mine, the Wabu gold deposit, and a long-planned hydro-electric project. Jakarta claims it is working to fix its Papua problem by way of development and improved services. But as Aprila Wayar and Johnny Blades explain (The Diplomat, 21 June): ‘Papua’s problem isn’t lack of development; it’s a lack of justice for West Papuans.’ As Wayar and Blades rightly note, ‘Indonesia’s political elite and military establishment have extensive interests in Papua’s abundant natural resource wealth. The new provincial divisions would enable more opportunities for the exploitation of these resources, largely for the benefit of people other than Papuans themselves.’ There will be more military bases and more human rights abuses as the indigenous ethnic Melanesian, predominantly Christian, Papuans are replaced by Javanese Muslim settlers supported by Indonesian troops. Human rights organisations agree with the Papuans - the division will serve to accelerate Javanese Muslim colonisation, militarisation and exploitation, and hasten the ‘end-game’ of Papuan genocide.

‘Do not stand idly by when your neighbour’s life is threatened’ (Leviticus 19:16b NLT).

PLEASE PRAY THAT OUR MERCIFUL GOD WILL

* intervene for his precious Papuan people to save them; may those who seek to kill and plunder God’s people ‘stumble and fall’ (Psalm 27:2); may those who commit violence be brought to account; may justice prevail; may the wicked no longer enjoy impunity. ‘For nothing will be impossible with God’ (Luke 1:37 ESV).

* move in the hearts of Indonesians, in particular the Indonesian Church: may Indonesian Christians imitate Christ, displaying sacrificial love for their Papuan brothers and sisters; may their love shine bright, exposing the ugliness of toxic racial-religious hatred, causing many to feel shame and desire change.

‘A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.’ (John 13:34-35 ESV)

* raise up voices who will speak up for the Papuans (Proverbs 31:8,9), a betrayed and abandoned Christian people, loved and treasured by a Holy God. Lord have mercy!


SUMMARY FOR BULLETINS UNABLE TO RUN THE WHOLE ARTICLE
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INDONESIA: ENTERING THE ‘END GAME’ IN PAPUA

On 22 August four Papuans – including two community leaders – left Nduga to purchase building supplies and agricultural equipment in Timika. Instead, their dismembered bodies were found in sacks in a river. Six Indonesian soldiers and three of four wanted civilians have been arrested. Nduga’s Regent/head, Namia Gwijangge, explains that while the four men were civilians, the Indonesian military ‘kills civilians in Papua like hunting animals’. On 30 June the Indonesian government legislated to divide Papua Province into four smaller units, adding Central Papua, Highland Papua and South Papua. West Papua (the ‘Bird’s Head’ region) remains unchanged. Human rights organisations and Papuans agree, the division will serve to accelerate Javanese Muslim colonisation, militarisation and exploitation, and hasten the ‘end-game’ of Papuan genocide. For the predominantly Christian Papuans, the crisis is existential. Please pray.

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Elizabeth Kendal is an international religious liberty analyst and advocate for the persecuted Church. To support this ministry visit www.ElizabethKendal.com.

Elizabeth has authored two books: Turn Back the Battle: Isaiah Speaks to Christians Today (Deror Books, Melbourne, Australia, Dec 2012) which offers a Biblical response to persecution and existential threat; and After Saturday Comes Sunday: Understanding the Christian Crisis in the Middle East (Wipf and Stock, Eugene, OR, USA, June 2016). She is also an Adjunct Research Fellow at the Arthur Jeffery Centre for the Study of Islam at Melbourne School of Theology.

For more information visit: www.ElizabethKendal.com