An evangelist was slain and a mother and her 10-year-old daughter suffered serious burns for their faith in separate incidents last month in eastern Uganda.
In Busei B village, Nakalama Sub-County in Iganga District, sources said Ronald Twinomugisha had received threats by text message from Muslims before he was hacked to death on March 30. He was 32.
Twinomugisha moved to the area from western Uganda in February 2022, and by the end of 2023 he had led four Muslims to Christ, a source said. The four former Muslims had relocated elsewhere due to threats from their families.
"In March 2023, Twinomugisha came to my office and reported threatening messages from Muslims," area chairperson Gozan Waiswa told Morning Star News. "Their complaint was him changing Muslims to Christianity."
At about 7 p.m., neighbours saw men in Islamic attire entering Twinomugisha's home, an area source said.
"At around 8 p.m. I heard an alarm and a call for help then followed by a loud bang like that of splitting firewood," said the source, whose identify is withheld for security purposes. "It was a loud wailing saying, 'Please don't kill me! Please don't kill me! I am working for Jesus Christ! Please, Jesus is the one who sent me!' I feared to come out of my house, but shortly the voice stopped."
Neighbours found Twinomugisha's body in a pool of blood outside his compound the following morning.
"The attackers left a note saying, 'We learned what you have been teaching, and misleading Muslims and leading them to a wrong religion from the course and path of Allah,'" the source said.
Police took the body to a mortuary for postmortem and have mounted a hunt for four suspects.
Twinomugisha had helped to support himself by making liquid soap and had assisted many young people in the skill.
Mother and child burned
In neighboring Namutumba District, 33-year-old Zafara Nagudi said she was unaware that her Muslim husband had come home when she and her daughter, 10-year-old Sharifa Nangobi, were praying in Christ's name in their kitchen on March 25.
Residents of Namutumba Town Council, Nagudi and her daughter had put their faith in Christ at an open-air evangelistic event at Kaiti trading center, she said.
She was cooking dinner at 9 p.m. when her husband, Musobya Mujjibu, 37, found them praying, she said. Another daughter, 7, was staying at a relative's house.
"I had put water on for preparing millet bread that was at the boiling point," Nagudi told Morning Star News. "Suddenly I saw my husband at the door of the kitchen, and immediately we stopped praying."
He asked her what they were doing, and she had no answer, she said. He continued asking the same question.
"I eventually told him the truth, that we were praying to Jesus Christ to help our family," Nagudi said. "He became very furious and said, 'I heard everything but am surprised! Are you a Christian or Muslim?'"
She said she told him that six months ago she had converted to Christianity and had been fellowshipping at a church.
"From there he slapped me and kicked me while boxing me," Nagudi said. "Since he was in the doorway, we couldn't run away. He grabbed the saucepan of hot water and poured it on me and the child."
Mujjibu left the house thinking he had killed them, she said. She managed to get to her phone and call her sister in a nearby village, who soon arrived with two motorcyclists to take them to a medical clinic for medication and treatment.
Nagudi suffered lesser burns as she was wearing heavier clothing, but her daughter in lighter clothing suffered more serious burns, she said. They were discharged from the clinic on April 3 and were staying with a relative.
The attacks were the latest of many instances of persecution of Christians in Uganda that Morning Star News has documented.
Uganda's constitution and other laws provide for religious freedom, including the right to propagate one's faith and convert from one faith to another. Muslims make up no more than 12 percent of Uganda's population, with high concentrations in eastern areas of the country.
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