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Dr Alex Malasusa
Head of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania (ELCT) Dr Alex Malasusa yesterday appealed to fellow Christians not to react after people suspected to be rowdy Muslims vandalised a church at Mbagala Zakhem, Temeke District, on Friday afternoon. Muslim followers had stormed into a church and made away with valuables, protesting over what they described as desecration of The Quran book by a 14-year-old boy on Wednesday this week. Bishop Malasusa arrived at around 08.45am and Shepherd Frank Kimambo led him into the church where grief stricken members sang hymns or cried over the previous day�s incident. The atmosphere was tense as if the church compound was a funeral place, The Guardian on Sunday can reveal. Windows were smashed and the podium was full of broken pieces of glass while there were clear signs that wooden chairs had been set on fire. The church�s wall loud speakers were all vandalised. �Just to evaluate the loss it is not in thousands but� millions of shillings, it could be up to� Sh40 million,� said a church member Justine Mlache in an exclusive interview. The church can accommodate over 500 people, and on Bishop Malasusa�s tour many people turned up witnessing damaged properties like ceiling electric fans left dangling from their positions, a sign the vandals found them difficult to remove. Other properties were scattered on the floor. Shepherd Frank Kimambo�s car that had been parked in the courtyard was ruthlessly ransacked and had most of its important parts chopped off. Bishop Malasusa said: �Give us time to evaluate the losses and the damage caused and give a report to the public, later and not now,� adding that the church would discuss with the secretaries of all the churches in Dar es Salaam City, after which a statement would be issued. Eye witnesses said: �The rowdy attackers smashed open the door of the church and stoned the parked car in the courtyard in the absence of the security�. Temeke Regional Police Commander David Misime is quoted by the media as saying more churches would have been attacked had the police not taken action immediately, At least four other churches were attacked. They are Seventh Day Adventist Church, Tanzania Assemblies of God (TAG), Moravian Church and Anglican Church. The Muslim Chief Sheik, Alham Mussa Salum, on Friday told Muslims that attacking churches under the circumstances would imply the 14-year-old boy was sent by Christians to desecrate the Quran, which was not the case.
SOURCE: GUARDIAN ON SUNDAY
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