PHOTO (Illustrative)| Courtesy.
Morning Star News East Africa Correspondent
In eastern Uganda, Muslim extremists recently attacked a church leader in Buwenge town, Jinja district, as he returned from the fourth day of a five-day evangelistic campaign in which four Muslims put their faith in Christ, sources said.
During the event that began on Dec. 27 and was scheduled to end on Saturday (Jan. 1), Bishop Raymond Malinga Opio spoke at an open-air venue in Buwenge town, resulting in four Muslims putting their faith in Christ on Dec. 29.
Among the four converts to Christianity was the holder of a decree in sharia (Islamic law) from the Islamic University in Uganda, Mbale campus, the bishop said. Bishop Opio and other leaders of his church (unnamed for security reasons) baptized the four new Christians, unidentified for security reasons, on Thursday (Dec. 30).
As Bishop Opio was returning to his hotel in Magamaga town on Friday (Dec. 31), three motorcyclists passed him at high speed about three miles from his lodging at about 7 p.m., he said. One slowed and stopped to check his motorcycle, and Bishop Opio stopped to assist him, he said.
Two of the motorcycles carried an extra passenger, and soon the four people on the two other vehicles arrived where the bishop was stopped with the lone motorcyclist.
“As they arrived, I noticed that all of them wore Islamic attire,” Bishop Opio told Morning Star News. “One of them said, ‘This man must die for converting our Muslim brothers to Christ, including our sheikh.’ I got scared.”
A sheikh (Islamic teacher) had converted to Christ on Nov. 10 at another campaign the bishop held in Namayemba, Bugiri District, Bishop Opio said.
“I relocated him far away from his relatives,” he said. “The Muslims were angered by his conversion.”
After the motorcyclists threatened the bishop, one of them began hitting him with his fist and a blunt object, while others kicked him, he said.
“I made an alarm, wailing for help, identifying myself as bishop,” he said. “Four young men living nearby arrived with bright torches flashing. The attackers seeing the flashlights coming toward our direction jumped on their bikes and took off while shouting that soon they were going to kill me.”
One of the assailants told him, “We shall soon come for you because you are misleading our Muslim faithful to join your bad religion,” the bishop said.
The four young men who arrived were Christians and called three others to escort Bishop Opio to a hospital near Magamaga, where he received treatment for three days. He sustained injuries to his back and head, including the loss of two teeth and severe swelling on his mouth. He was discharged from the hospital early Monday morning (Jan. 3) and returned to his home in another undisclosed district, where he is receiving further treatment.
The assaults in central and eastern Uganda were the latest of many instances of persecution of Christians in the country that Morning Star News has documented.
Uganda’s constitution and other laws provide for religious freedom, including the right to propagate one’s faith and convert from one faith to another. Muslims make up no more than 12 percent of Uganda’s population, with high concentrations in eastern areas of the country.
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