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Uganda: Pastor in critical condition after poisoning by Muslim extremists

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – A pastor in western Uganda is still fighting for his life in hospital, weeks after he and a couple he had recently led to Christ were poisoned by local Islamic extremists, Morning Star News (MSN) reports. Violent attacks by radicalized Islamists against Christians in Uganda are being increasingly reported, although Muslims are a minority group in the country, and Christianity is legal.

At the time of the poisoning attack on November 24, Pastor Francis Kutekereza of Kigorobya Sub-County, Hoima District was in a home at around 6 pm, praying with a husband and wife who had recently left Islam for Christ, MSN reports. The husband, whose name has been withheld for security reasons, told MSN that seven Muslims showed up during the prayer meeting at around 6 pm and stormed into the house.

The group of Muslims attacked the three Christians and forced them to eat cooked bananas containing a fungicide that causes ptomaine poisoning; the husband told MSN. “It was a real struggle in the house,” the husband, 27, told MSN. “Three men held the pastor, and the remaining four were on our necks. We took some little pieces of bananas before escaping, but the pastor could not escape.”

Some three hours later, the couple and Pastor Kutekereza, 51, began to experience nausea, vomiting, stomach cramps, and diarrhea, MSN said. All three Christians were taken to Kigorobya health clinic, where the couple was hospitalized for three weeks before being released on December 14.

A married father of five children, Pastor Kutekereza, remains in critical condition and has been transferred to a hospital in Hoima for further diagnosis. “The pastor is still battling for his life in the hospital bed,” an MSN source said.“He has a swollen stomach, swollen legs, and swollen face that has affected his walking and vision.”