Even in Uganda, Majority Christians Suffer Persecution

ICC Note:
Reports recount severe incidents of Christian persecution perpetrated by extremists within the minority Muslims of Uganda, primarily in the east. A predominantly Christian nation, Uganda is not a traditional home to acts of persecution; however, predominantly Islamic communities, in recent years, have created localized cultures of hostility that has led to vicious beatings of Christians, arson of Christian homes, honor killings, and a public out-lash against Christian business and education.
7/9/2013 Uganda (Morning Star News) — Even in Christian-majority Uganda, two former sheikhs (Muslim teachers) and a mother of seven are struggling to recover from the fury Islamic extremists unleashed on them for converting.
Senior Pastor/Bishop Umar Mulinde of Gospel Life Church International outside Kampala has begun facial reconstruction after assailants who shouted “Allahu Akbar [God is greater]” cast acid on him on Christmas Eve 2011, while Christian school founder Hassan Muwanguzi of eastern Uganda is homeless and facing death threats from Islamic extremists who burned down his house.
“Acid damaged my face beyond what we had initially thought,” Mulinde recently wrote to Morning Star News from Sheba Medical Center in Tel Hashomer (near Tel Aviv), Israel, “causing a very terrible wound, nearly cutting off my head, right eye, ear, nose and causing serious deforming scars, but praise God that He helped me to get good medication and prayers of the saints worldwide, otherwise I almost died.”
The father of six, who has lost vision in his right eye, underwent facial reconstruction surgery a month ago.
“Doctors have advised that once healing characteristics are anticipated with a high level of certainty, they will proceed with more complicated stages of reconstruction,” he wrote, adding that he has undergone six surgeries and expects three more, with treatment expected to continue another six to eight months.
During his hospital stay, Mulinde’s wife and twin 4-year-old boys have been with him in Israel, while a family friend cares for his older children in Uganda.
“We still need provision for the two adult caretakers of our children, school tuition for all our six children, daily upkeep of our family in Africa and Israel, prescribed medication for my treatment and grace of God to overcome the remaining treatment period and the emotional pain involved,” he wrote.
Mulinde, who church is located in Namasuba, 10 kilometers (six miles) outside of Kampala, has been an outspoken critic of sharia (Islamic law) courts in Uganda. Area Muslim leaders on Oct. 15, 2011, declared a fatwa against him demanding his death.
“Keep praying for me,” he wrote. “My head has been bandaged for the last 18 months.”
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