Christians in Uganda continue to receive attacks from Muslims with the recent one claiming the life of a pastor and his son.
On Nov. 21, Pastor Wilson Niwamanya and his son Simon Peter Bizimaana died of stab wounds after a group of Muslims attacked them on their way home to Kabale. People say that four Muslim extremists slew the pastor and his son over religion, Morning Star News reported
According to a statement given by the 15-year-old Christian worker who was driving the motorcycle the pastor's son rode when the stabbing took place, they were driving home when the attackers appeared out of the bushes near Kisoro. The assailants immediately grabbed pastor Niwamanya saying, "This man must die for disrespecting our religion," the worker said.
The 15-year-old survivor, whose name is withheld for safety reasons, described the weapons that the assailants used in their assault. He said the four Muslim men carried Somali swords, a horn-hilted dagger, and blunt objects.
Bizimaana died on the scene after receiving a stab wound on his stomach. The survivor and the pastor continued to wrestle against the Muslims until other motorcycles arrived, forcing the attackers to flee. The victims were immediately brought to the nearest hospital
Niwamanya suffered from serious wounds on his head. Due to the severity of the injuries he acquired during the beating, he died in the hospital on Nov. 24. The 15-year-old worker, on the other hand, survived but not without sustained injuries in his hands.
Pastor Niwamanya's widow revealed that her husband had been receiving death threats from Muslims through SMS. Shortly before they were attacked, the pastor received one such threat saying "Please stop giving people books that discredit Islam, and if you continue distributing these books, then you are risking your life." according to the Christian News Network.
The widow also shared some of the challenges that her husband went through fighting for his faith in God.
She said the late pastor has been regularly visiting both sides of Congo to share the gospel and to share books critiquing Islam. He travels every three or four months. He also boldly carried out Muslim-Christian debates in 2016 where Islamic leaders rebuked him openly.
"Muslims have been accusing him of selling King James Version Bibles, the Noble Qur'an [English version], and some Christian literature that discusses some of the misconceptions in the Islamic faith found in the Koran," the wife said.
She added that Islamists have placed the late pastor under surveillance ever since her late husband appeared in an evangelistic event in Masaka in 2010, He joined evangelist Umar Mulinde, a former Islamic sheik (teacher) and a highly effective evangelist in Uganda, during the event. Mulinde also lived under constant threat of Muslim aggression, and suffered from an acid attack in 201..
In July 2019, Isaac Sendegeya, Pastor Newamanya's lawyer, was also shot dead by an unknown suspect.
Pastor Newamanya leaves behind a wife who is in need of financial assistance - to pay for the treatment she needs due to an attack on her faith, as well as to provide for their surviving children and the 15 others they are caring for at an orphanage the late pastor ran.
Although Muslims make up only 12 percent of Uganda's population and the country's constitution provides religious freedom to propagate and to change religion, Christians continue to suffer in the hands of radical Muslims in some regions specifically the eastern part of the nation.
