Christians make up around 85% of Uganda’s population (there is a tiny minority of around 35,000 Orthodox Christians in that nation). In Uganda, Christian persecution generally does not involve government and law enforcement action, such as what we see in many other countries. Instead, converts to Christianity and Christians who proselytize are often targeted and harassed.
For previous coverage of Christian persecution in Uganda, see here.
“Christian Pastor Slain over Outreach to Muslims, Sources Say,” Morning Star News, June 18, 2021:
NAIROBI, Kenya (Morning Star News) – A radical Muslim has confessed to killing a 70-year-old pastor in Uganda on June 11, sources said.
Bishop Francis Obo, senior pastor of Mpingire Pentecoastal [sic] Revival Church Ministries International in Odapako village, Mpingire Sub-County, was killed after a group of Muslim extremists dressed in Islamic attire stopped him and his wife on their way home from a market at about 8:30 p.m., his wife said.
Christine Obo told Morning Star News that one of the men told Bishop Obo that he was an “infidel” who causes Muslims to leave Islam and “blaspheme the words of Allah,” and that, “Today Allah has judged you.”
“Another assailant told me to go away and added, ‘Today, it is a day for your husband,’” Christine Obo said. “As I moved a few meters in a hurry trying to save my life, I heard a little noise and wailing from my husband and realized that his life was in danger.”
She reached home trembling and unable to speak, and her children took her to a hospital where she was treated for shock, Obo said. Early the next morning she regained consciousness and told her oldest son that his father was likely killed by radical Muslims, and that he and his siblings should go to the site.
“Reaching there, they were shocked and fearful as they found a big number of Christians and relatives gathered around the dead body mourning their bishop after being murdered by Muslims,” Obo said.
Investigating police found a suspect, Imam Uthman Olingha, with blood on his clothes and shoes, area Christians said. They arrested him and another suspect identified as Jafari Kato.
Police told family members that Olingha confessed killing Bishop Obo, with an officer telling them, “Olingha openly confessed that he can’t regret that he killed the bishop because he did it in the cause of Allah’s word to kill all infidels who mislead Muslims. He added that Allah will be with him in jail, but the kafiri [infidels] deserved the killing,” Christine Obo said.
The bishop leaves behind a widow and 13 children. He oversaw 17 churches across the region….
