A Pastor in Sofala province reported that his whole village had been destroyed by Soviet attack helicopters in July. He himself had scars from the schrapnel. Quite a large number of people were killed by these Frelimo helicopter gun ships.

​​There are so few pastors left in the war-torn rural areas of Mozambique that they are often responsible for 3 or 4 congregations. Because the vast majority of church leaders have had no formal Bible training, our teams have spent much of their time conducting leadership training courses, evangelism seminars and Discipleship workshops. These courses are very popular and our missionary reports that he often has between 20 to 40 keen pastors or evangelists at each of his bush training seminars.

​Amnesty International has issued a 16- page report, documenting human rights abuses in Mozambique.
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According to the report, there are two principal forms of torture. The one is flogging the victim’s bare skin with whips. The other is called “cordas” (or ropes). The victim’s hands are tied extremely tightly behind his back with wet ropes, and he or she is then left for several hours. While the ropes dry and contract, the skin tears apart, the muscles swell and arms become paralyzed. This torture is sometimes enhanced when the ropes are first soaked in salt, or when the victim is left in the sun. ‘Cordas” victims are often paralyzed for several weeks, and their wounds often become infected or infested with bugs and worms.

The International Society for Human Rights reports that torture in the prisons of Mozambique is the norm. Sanitary facilities and medical care are extremely poor. Nutrition is seldom adequate.

​Exactly two years after a Frontline Fellowship field team of four were released from prison in Zambia, eight missionaries on a Frontline mission were forced into Mozambique at gunpoint by a heavily-armed mob of Frelimo troops. This dramatic incident received widespread coverage in the USA, South Africa and Zimbabwe, on radio and TV and in the press.

My daughter, Daniela, returned from a visit to Mozambique last week. She reported vibrant market places, hardworking entrepreneurs and friendly people delighted to receive Gospel literature in their language. It is astounding the changes we have witnessed in Mozambique over the past 34 years since my first Mission to Mozambique!

​In these days following the sudden leath of president Samora Machel, when many church leaders are praising this atheist, it may be well to note some of his public speeches:

​“Religion is a superstition which pretends that man is dependent on a super natural being who doesn’t exist... Religious superstition must be replaced by a scientific, materialist, that is, Marxist approach. The Church has always been on the side of the oppressors. . . It is a reactionary institution. . . Religion is something that divides people.” Le Mozambique, Dossier Pro Mundi Vita, Louvain January 1977, pg. 16-19.

​Reports have been received describing the destruction of four villages in ZAMBEZIA province, MOZAMBIQUE. Zimbabwean paratroopers attacked and destroyed Chiromo, Chire, Milange and Morumbala villages for alleged co-operation with the national resistance movement. In addition, sixty school children were killed when Marxist Frelimo troops bombed a school in SOFALA province of Mozambique.

​ In the very town where Frontline missionaries were jailed in 1989, Wilna is pioneering a unique Bible based literacy training programme. So far this year Wilna has trained 33 teachers and helped establish 19 bush schools in remote areas of Tete province in Mozambique. Here are some exerpts from Wilna’s report:

​After the long war, droughts, famine and floods, the economy in the north of Mozambique has been crippled. Tete and Zambezia have been hit the hardest. People are struggling to survive under these adverse circumstances.