The Vumba massacre (also known as the Elim Mission massacre) was a

massacre A massacre is the killing of a large number of people or animals, especially those who are not involved in any fighting or have no way of defending themselves. A massacre is generally considered to be morally unacceptable, especially when per ...

of eight British missionaries and four children committed by

ZANLA Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA) was the military wing of the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU), a militant African nationalist organisation that participated in the Rhodesian Bush War against white minority rule of Rhode ...

guerrillas during the

Rhodesian Bush War The Rhodesian Bush War, also called the Second as well as the Zimbabwe War of Liberation, was a civil conflict from July 1964 to December 1979 in the unrecognised country of Rhodesia (later Zimbabwe-Rhodesia). The conflict pitted three for ...

on 23 June 1978. The missionaries belonged to the Elim Pentecostal Mission based in the

Vumba mountains The Bvumba Mountains or Vumba Mountains straddle the Zimbabwe-Mozambique border, and are situated some 10 km south east of Mutare. The Bvumba rise to Castle Beacon at 1,911 metres, and are, together with the Chimanimani Mountains to the sou ...

near the Mozambican border in

Rhodesia Rhodesia (, ), officially from 1970 the Republic of Rhodesia, was an unrecognised state in Southern Africa from 1965 to 1979, equivalent in territory to modern Zimbabwe. Rhodesia was the ''de facto'' successor state to the British colony of S ...

Events

The guerrillas separated White missionaries and their relatives from the rest of the camp and axed, battered or bayoneted them to death. Black teachers and students were told that "some White staff have been arrested" and ordered not to report the incident to the authorities. The victims included three couples, two single women, three children and a 3-week-old baby. All victims were British citizens. Four of the five women had been

rape Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or ag ...

d, and one woman was found with an axe in her back. Three children were discovered lying dead next to a woman in pyjamas. One woman who was beaten and dragged away survived after being found in a serious condition on the next day. The only White resident who avoided the attack altogether had hid himself after being warned by a Black servant.

Context and aftermath

Since 1972, nearly 40 missionaries had been killed before the Vumba massacre, and only two days after it, two

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

Jesuits The Society of Jesus ( la, Societas Iesu; abbreviation: SJ), also known as the Jesuits (; la, Iesuitæ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

were killed west of

Salisbury Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath. Salisbury is in the southeast of Wil ...

. The Vumba massacre was the single worst attack on Europeans and church representatives in Rhodesia. The site of the massacre, the former

Eagle School Eagle School was an independent, preparatory boarding school for boys aged 7 to 14 years situated in the Vumba Mountains near Umtali, Rhodesia (now Mutare, Zimbabwe). The school was founded in 1948 and closed in 1976. The remaining pupils we ...

buildings which were used by the Elim Mission, were subsequently taken over by the

ZANU–PF The Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (ZANU–PF) is a political organisation which has been the ruling party of Zimbabwe since independence in 1980. The party was led for many years under Robert Mugabe, first as prime ministe ...

and used as a training camp, while access was restricted for others. According to a 2017 ''

The Sunday Telegraph ''The Sunday Telegraph'' is a British broadsheet newspaper, founded in February 1961 and published by the Telegraph Media Group, a division of Press Holdings. It is the sister paper of ''The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', kn ...

'' report, government cables indicated that the British Prime Minister

James Callaghan Leonard James Callaghan, Baron Callaghan of Cardiff, ( ; 27 March 191226 March 2005), commonly known as Jim Callaghan, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1976 to 1979 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1976 to 1980. Callaghan is ...

received credible information that Robert Mugabe's forces were behind the massacre, but they decided to ignore the issue to avoid disrupting the on-going peace talks.

Events

Context and aftermath

See also

References

Further reading