Two evangelists are still receiving hospital treatment two weeks after hardline Muslims in eastern Uganda beat them unconscious for proclaiming Christ, sources said.
Samuel Mukiibi, 27, and 25-year-old Ephraim Duula in the last six years have led several Muslims to Christ. They were attacked on May 16 near Naigombwa swamp near Bukwanga village, Iganga Sub-County in Iganga District, in eastern Uganda.
After an evangelistic outreach in the Nambale area on May 13-16, they left at about 4 p.m. after open-air preaching and were approaching the swamp when three Muslims blocked the road, said Mukiibi.
“They stopped us and asked us to renounce Jesus Christ, whom we were preaching at Naigombwa trading center for four days,” Mukiibi told Morning Star News. “At the same time, they wanted to forcefully circumcise us as per Islamic teaching for us to live. We totally refused, and they started beating us badly with sharp objects and left us unconscious in a coma in a pool of blood.”
The assailants took their Bibles and gospel tracts, he said.
“I managed to identify one of the attackers named Murshidi, who was calling the other attackers by Islamic names,” Mukiibi said. “My colleague, Duula, suffered serious bleeding coming out of his ears, bruised face and a deep cut in his left hand, while myself I had a twisted neck, swollen face and neck.”
They regained consciousness in a hospital in Iganga, where they learned that motorcycle riders led by a man identified only as Dauson rescued them.
Dauson said he knew their pastor.
“We found the two evangelists bleeding seriously, picked up Mukiibi’s phone and rung the pastor who came to the hospital immediately,” Dauson said.
Iganga District is a heavily Muslim area of Uganda. The attack was 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.
