by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News) - Two evangelists in eastern Uganda were brutally attacked by Islamic extremists after they led a number of Muslims to Christ at a public debate on Islam and Christianity last month, Morning Star News (MSN) reports. Christianity is legal in Uganda, but extremists from the country’s minority Muslim population have conducted violent attacks against Christians they consider a threat to Islam.
Aged 35 and 26, respectively, evangelists Andrew Dikusooka and Ronald Musasizi had participated in a number of debates on Islam and Christianity at events in Iganga District before they were attacked on September 24 in the district’s predominantly Muslim Nampirika village, MSN reports.
Recalling the event after which the two evangelists were attacked, Dikusooka told MSN: “Many people gave their lives to Christ, including Muslims, witchdoctors and street vendors…When the meeting ended, we took the new converts aside and had a few minutes explaining the meaning of the new life in Christ and the commitment to follow Jesus Christ.”
However, a number of Muslims in attendance at the debate became angry, Dikusooka added. “The conversion of these people angered Muslims who began shouting to disrupt the occasion,” he said. Then, as Dikusooka and Musasizi were on their way home at about 7.30, a group of Muslims who were known to the evangelists accosted them and blocked their way.
“They then started beating us with blunt objects, and one named Shafiki Mugendawala from Nasuuti, in Iganga, hit me with a sharp knife right on my head,” Dikusooka told MSN. “Another named Musiitwa Manisuuli from Kigulu Iganga struck my friend in the belly and hands. Both of us fell down as a bright light flashed from a coming vehicle that appeared from the opposite direction. From that time onwards, we did not know what happened. We only found ourselves in the hospital in Iganga town with deep wounds.”
This attack was just the latest of many such instances of violent persecution against Christians that Morning Star News has documented. Andrew Dikusooka and Ronald Musasizi have asked for prayer for their speedy recovery.