“We saw the bags hanging in the trees,” said a young Mozambican boy called “Antonio”. He was recalling what had happened a few days earlier when he and others from the village of Quisanga returned to their homes, after fleeing to the bush to escape a massacre.
What was in bags that they found hanging from the trees in their village? “A lot of body parts were in the bags,” continued Antonio, in great agitation. “The people were killed and their bodies were chopped up. They put them in the bags and hung them up so when we came back we saw all the bags hanging from the trees.”
Three days of savage violence afflicted northern Mozambique from 6 to 8 November. In Muatide village, a football pitch became a killing field, when more than 50 people were beheaded and then chopped into pieces by ferocious Islamist militants. In Nanjaba village, gunmen shouting “Allahu Akbar” stormed into the community, setting homes alight, beheading villagers and abducting women.
Northern Mozambique has been afflicted by Islamist extremist violence for the past three years. Christians, moderate Muslims and anyone else who rejects the jihadists’ ideology is a target.
Thousands of desperate people are on the move, seeking safety. Some, like Antonio, have fled to the bush, others to Christian mission stations, others to small offshore islands, and still others have taken boats to Pemba, the provincial capital, 100 km away.
Barnabas is already providing food for the displaced Christians. But prices in the area are rising because normal food deliveries have stopped – few dare to visit because of the terrible violence. So our partners buy the food cheaply in Pemba and deliver it by boat.
Will you help us keep on feeding the survivors of the violence?
10 kg of beans cost £7 ($9; €8)
50kg of maize costs £14 ($18; €16)
50 kg of rice cost £21 ($27; €24)
Delivery by boat costs £60 ($80; €70)
