The papal charity, Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), released that armed men robbed the Nazaré Training Center in the Archdiocese of Beira in the early hours of Sunday, the 23rd, violently attacking three missionaries who were there. In a statement sent to the AIS Foundation, the Conference of Religious Institutes of Mozambique “expressed its concern about the insecurity” and asked for prayers for peace in the country.
In the early hours of Sunday, February 23, a group of men armed with pistols, machetes and irons invaded the facilities of the Nazaré Training Center , in Inhamizua, in the Archdiocese of Beira, in Mozambique, Africa.
According to a statement sent to the AIS Foundation by the Conference of Religious Institutes of Mozambique, Cirmo, the assault occurred at one in the morning and was extremely violent, as three religious men who were at the scene were “tied up and tortured by the bandits” . Fortunately, the statement adds, all those attacked, Father Timothée Bationo, Father Valere and Friar Boaventura, “are out of danger” and only suffer “pain and minor injuries”.
Contacted by the AIS Foundation, Friar Boaventura, who is responsible for the “Pobres de Jesus Cristo” missionaries in Mozambique, confirmed that “it was a robbery”, but that he did not feel in a position to “talk about the subject”, as it all happened very recently. “I am still recovering from the shock”, he said. So far, there is no information about the identity of the robbers or whether anything was stolen from the facilities of the training centre of the Archdiocese of Beira. The police have also not yet provided any details.
Of the three religious figures attacked, one is from Burkina Faso. He is Father Timothée Bationo, who celebrated two decades of priesthood on 8 December last year and who is currently Episcopal Vicar for Consecrated Life of the Archdiocese of Beira and is responsible for the Nazaré Training Centre, where the attack took place.
SENSITIVE TIMES
This episode of violence occurred at a sensitive moment in the political life of this Portuguese-speaking African country, after Daniel Chapo assumed the presidency of the Republic on January 15. The electoral process was strongly contested, especially by Venâncio Mondlane, who came in second place, and gave rise to numerous demonstrations throughout the country, many of which were marked by moments of great violence , with more than 300 deaths, hundreds injured and thousands arrested.
The province of Nampula was the scene of some of these protests and, as the AIS Foundation reported at the time, during one of these popular marches, buildings belonging to the Archdiocese were vandalized, as well as an attack on the mission of Brazilian nuns in Micane. The incidents took place between 24 and 25 December, in other words, during the Christmas festivities, with the protesters invading, vandalizing and destroying everything in a guest house, a parish residence and an old pharmacy . All of these buildings are located near the Episcopal Palace.
On that occasion, Archbishop Inácio Saure, of Nampula and president of the Episcopal Conference of Mozambique, sent a message to the governor of the province asking for the intervention of the authorities. Furthermore, in the north of the country, in the province of Cabo Delgado, attacks continue to be recorded by terrorist groups claiming to belong to Daesh, the jihadist organization Islamic State. The most recent incident occurred on Thursday last week in Quissanga, in which two soldiers of the Mozambican army were killed by the insurgents, as the terrorists are also known locally.
Source: ACN Pt - https://fundacao-ais.pt/
Paulo Aido | AIS Foundation Information Department
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