A Catholic priest Fr Anselmo Mwangamba has been doused with acid in Zanzibar, in a wave of series of attack targeting Catholic Priests in Zanzibar.
Fr Anselmo Mwangamba was burned by the acid on his face, chest and arms, as he walked on the streets of Stone Town in Zanzibar on Friday 13 of this month.
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| Fr. Mwang'amba in his Hospital bed in Dar-es-Salaam |
Fr Mwangamba becomes the third priest to be attacked in less than a year period and the fourth incident of crime against religious leaders in Zanzibar.
The first attack was on Christmas day of 2012, when Fr Ambrose Mkenda was seriously wounded in an armed attack; While in February this year, Fr Evarist Mushi was shot dead in Zanzibar City while heading for Sunday Eucharistic celebration. Apart from these three Catholic Priests, the Secretary of the Mufti, Sheikh Fadhili Soraga was also burned by acid in an incident which occurred in November last year.
The first attack was on Christmas day of 2012, when Fr Ambrose Mkenda was seriously wounded in an armed attack; While in February this year, Fr Evarist Mushi was shot dead in Zanzibar City while heading for Sunday Eucharistic celebration. Apart from these three Catholic Priests, the Secretary of the Mufti, Sheikh Fadhili Soraga was also burned by acid in an incident which occurred in November last year.
The acid attack on Fr Mwang’amba in Zanzibar is heightening fears of increased religious tensions on the Tanzanian islands, where Christian clergy, churches and some Muslim leaders are being targeted.
This incident of acid attack is coming just a month after two young British women were attacked with acid thrown by men on a motorcycle.
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| Bishop Augustin Shao of Zanzibar when he visited Fr. Mwang'amba to console him |
Speaking to journalist on hospital bed Fr. Mwang’amba said he is not intimidated by the attack and that he will still go back and continues with his apostolate when he recovers. “I will not shy away from spreading the Word of God in Zanzibar,” he said; Adding that “there was no reason for not going back because every other place on earth has its own challenges.”
Fr Mwang’amba, who is the parish priest at Machui Catholic Parish in the Diocese of Zanzibar told journalists that his attack is a lesson he has learnt from Jesus Christ who was crucified on the holy cross and that he has to endure pain for God’s sake.
News reports indicated that those who attacked him had waited as he was leaving an Internet café in the Mlandege area of the island, a popular tourist destination about 20 miles off the coast of the mainland on Friday 13th September in the evening. Report from Zanzibar said 15 people were arrested in connection with the attack on the priest.
Source: TEC and AMECEA Social Communications.