Muslim extremists this month killed a Christian who was effective in leading Muslims to Christ in eastern Uganda.
Engineer Herbert of Sironko District was stabbed to death in the Namakwekwe area of northern Mbale town on the night of April 8 while on his way home from work in the town where he had established a business that supported his evangelization of Muslims, area Christians said. He was 42.
“Herbert was very effective in evangelistic activities,” an area pastor reported. “He worked and helped many evangelists in reaching Muslim communities in Nkoma, Nakaloke, Busajabwankuba, Nauyo, Kabwangasi and many parts of Mbale city and outside the city. His acts of supporting and helping preachers were seen in Muslim circles as misleading many Muslims who left Islam and joined Christianity, especially young men and women.”
The pastor and an area Christian, also unnamed for security reasons, found Herbert’s body at 9 a.m. local time on April 9.
“The pastor and I were able to recognize the man,” said the Christian, who had come across Muslims attacking Herbert the previous night. “He was lying in a pool of blood with deep cuts on his head, back and hands.”
The Christian had left Mbale town the night of April 8 but returned for fuel when he saw a group of Muslims in Namakwekwe cell, in the northern division of Mbale, he said.
“I switched on the full lights of my car and saw about five men beside the roadside dressed in Islamic capes and tunic clothes hitting a man who made a loud alarm asking for help, but I feared for my life as one of the attackers was shouting to him about damaging the Islamic religion,” he said.
He sped away, terrified, and upon reaching Mbale informed the police, he said.
“Police requested me to take them to the site where the incident took place the following morning,” he stated, adding that he was initially reluctant out of fear of Muslims harming him as a Christian eyewitness to the crime, but that police gave him assurances. “Later I agreed and decided to inform one of the pastors in Mbale town.”
Police took the body for postmortem and have begun investigating.