Bishop Antonio Juliasse says ACN continues to be a “friendly hand” which has stuck with the local Church since the beginning of the conflict which has already killed over 5,000 people and displaced over one million.
The Bishop of Pemba, in Mozambique, recalled the seventh anniversary of the beginning of the Islamist insurgency which has devasted the province of Cabo Delgado in the African country.
During a visit to Portugal, on his way back to Mozambique after visiting Rome with other bishops from Mozambique, Bishop António Juliasse told Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) that these have been “seven years of displacement; seven years of death; seven years during which people have lived with great suffering; of hunger, because they cannot farm their land due to insecurity; of disease, because there is no access to medication, or because the closest clinic has been destroyed. Seven years during which children have not been able to study as they should.”
Although Mozambique is mostly Christian, the north of the country, where the insurgency began, is largely Muslim. In its early stages, the Islamists focused mostly on attacking government institutions and spreading terror indiscriminately, but over the past few years, there have been targeted attacks on Christians in Cabo Delgado.
ACN continues to help the Diocese of Pemba to deal with the fallout of this insurgency and to spread the word about the need to address the violence which has been upsetting life in Cabo Delgado and neighbouring regions for so long.
Bishop António did not fail to acknowledge this service. “The Church continues to do what is in its nature, to be with the people, to help those we can help, and to offer what aid we receive.
Recently that aid has diminished, but there is always a friendly hand, and for us in Cabo Delgado that has mainly been ACN, who has always come to our assistance at the most critical times, and who is always ready to help us to save the lives of our brothers and sisters,” he told ACN.
