The Community of Sant’Egidio extends its condolences to the Combonian family for the terrible and senseless attack on the mission of Chipene, in northern Mozambique, of which Sister Maria De Coppi was a victim.

It is necessary to acknowledge the example of a nun who, like so many other sisters and confreres, gave her life for this southern African country where she had been present for sixty years and whose citizenship she had also obtained. Solidarity and closeness also to Father Loris and Father Lorenzo, who were forced to flee after the fire in their college and other structures of the mission.

Sant’Egidio, which precisely 30 years ago helped to bring to an end a civil war that had lasted 16 years and had claimed one million victims, launches an appeal to the international community not to forget these terrible jihadist attacks, which have already caused too many deaths and more than 800,000 displaced persons who cannot be abandoned to their fate, in a region rich in subsoil resources but poor in everything.

In the meantime, Sant’Egidio assures that it will continue, with its many Communities in the country, to work for peace, starting with the solidarity due to the thousands of internal refugees.