Muslims in Uganda kill pastor for evangelizing, refusing to sell them land for mosque

A group of Muslims in eastern Uganda killed a pastor for converting Muslims to Christianity and for refusing to sell them land where they planned to build a mosque.

"They grabbed him, then tied him up and cut him with very sharp pang [sword]," a resident of Bubulanga village, Kibuku District told Morning Star News.

The victim, Pastor Robert Bakulubanywa of Victory Church in Bubulanga, disappeared the night of July 24 after concluding the Sunday worship service. His wife, whose name remains concealed for security reasons, started to worry when her husband still did not arrive home at around 9 p.m. Her fear only heightened when a church elder she called up told her that the pastor already made his way home with another church member at 7:30 p.m.

She recalled when a Muslim neighbor warned her only a couple of days ago, "Please, things are not good for your family. Tell your husband to be very careful and leave the Muslims alone."

The pastor's wife said the Muslims already made several threats on her husband.

"The Muslims had issued several warnings to him to stop converting the Muslims to Christ, especially the youth," she said. "For over a month the Muslims have been pressuring us to sell a piece of land to them for the construction of a mosque, but my husband refused."

She eventually called the church member who told her that he managed to run away after a group of five Muslim men confronted him and the pastor on their way home.

The wife, along with Christian neighbors, found the 38-year-old pastor's dead body lying in a pool of blood at the site of the attack. They reported the incident to a Muslim council chairman, Tyogo Muniru, who reportedly did not take any action. The Kibuku police are still hunting for the suspects.

This incident follows a similar case when Muslim villagers also murdered a widow Christian woman in Naigobya village, Kiyunga Sub-County in Luuka District on June 23 after refusing to sell a piece of her land to Muslims who wanted to build a mosque in the area.