Priest maimed in acid attack 'reported threats to police'

Dar es Salaam/Zanzibar. A Catholic priest who was badly injured in an acid attack in Zanzibar had apparently reported being threatened by some youths.

Father Anselm Mwang’amba was burnt in the face and shoulders in the Friday incident and had to be flown to Dar es Salaam for specialised treatment. He is admitted to Muhimbili National Hospital.

Father Thomas Assenga, who accompanied him on the flight, told The Citizen on Sunday that his colleague had been receiving threats for two months and had reported the matter to authorities in Zanzibar.

“He (Fr Mwang’amba) has been threatened by a gang of youths and had reported to the police,” Fr Assenga said shortly after they arrived at MNH.“We expect to see justice done.”

The new details emerged as Zanzibar’s President, Dr Mohamed Shein, ordered police to expedite investigations into the rise in acid attacks in the Isles.

President Shein gave the order yesterday after he visited the priest at Mnazi Mmoja Hospital shortly before he was flown to Dar es Salaam.

He added: “We can no longer let these inhuman acts continue to happen in our country. The police must use all means to trace the culprits and bring them to justice.”

Father Mwang’amba arrived at Julius Nyerere International Airport at 10:15 am. His face was covered with khanga and he was visibly in acute pain.

The priest was assaulted at about 3.55 pm as he left an internet café at Mlandege that he visits regularly.

A boy who held a bottle covered with paper splashed the cleric with the corrosive liquid and sped off. Father Mwang’amba had just been on the phone, Father Assenga said.

A taxi driver hired to take the priest from the airport to MNH said he was in acute pain throughout the journey.

“He was complaining all the way from airport…he said he had internal pain,” the taxi driver said.

The Director of Criminal Investigations, Commissioner of Police Robert Manumba, said his office was working with other stakeholders and they were on the verge of finding a lasting solution to the problem.

The attack on Father Mwang’amba is the latest in a series of assaults on religious figures and the fifth acid attack since November, when Muslim cleric Sheikh Fadhil Suleiman Soraga was hospitalised with burns.

Yesterday, Dr Shein said the attack on the priest was inhuman and intolerable. He appealed to Catholic faithful in the Isles to remain calm as authorities were working on a lasting solution to the problem.

“It is very sad and unacceptable to cause terror and grief to fellow citizen like this,” Dr Shein added. “No one supports this discrimination.”

He was accompanied by Zanzibar’s Second Vice President, Balozi Seif Ali Iddi.

Father Mwang’amba told the president he was doing well and was able see clearly.

“My condition is good but I expect to see more clearly as the swelling in my eyes goes away,” said Father Mwang’amba, adding that he was lucky that the acid did not do greater damage.

The Permanent Secretary in the ministry of Health and Social welfare, Dr Mohamed Jidawi, said Father Mwang’amba suffered 30 per cent burns but he was receiving the best treatment possible.

Another priest, Father Cosmas Shayo, told the press that the incident had spread terror among the faithful and their leaders and called on authorities to arrest the situation soon.

There was an urgent need, he added, to establish the logic behind such attacks and intimidation of religious leaders in Zanzibar.