Africa: Where is religion?

Lately, most headlines about religion in Africa have involved conflict between Christians and Muslims.
Adding up to the extreme tension in Nigeria for months now, last May 28, Tanzania, one of East African’s most peaceful countries stumbled upon a wave of violence in Zanzibar.
Some members of a group calling itself Jumuiya ya Uamsho na Mihadhara ya Kiislamu Zanzibar (the Association for Islamic Mobilization and Propagation in Zanzibar), torched two Christian churches and destroyed other properties. An event that shocked the political establishment in Dar es Salaam; Uamsho is demanding to remove Zanzibar from the Tanganyika Union under which the United Republic of Tanzania was formed two years after independence.
While East Africans were still trying to heal these wounds, news came from Kenya: July 1 saw a simultaneous attack on a Catholic Church and the Africa Inland Church in the northern town of Garissa, left 17 people dead. This attacked was alleged to a series of incidents since Kenyan troops were sent into Somalia in October to “deal” with al-Shabaab militants. 
Are Christians and Muslims Africans at war?
Two years ago, a report by the PEW Forum on Religion and Public Life explored the complex religious landscape in Sub-Saharan Africa and found that while sometimes religion leads to tension, it also leads to tolerance among Africans.
The Director of PEW, Luis Lugo, at time, had said that they chose to do the study because sub-Saharan Africa is "the most important meeting place between Christianity and Islam anywhere in the world, so if we are going to probe issues of inter-religious understanding and inter-religious engagement, this is a good place as any to begin.”

So, what is happening? Many think along the same lines with Amilcar Cabral, a Guinea-Bissauan politician and writer: “Always bear in mind that the people are not fighting for ideas, for the things in anyone’s head. They are fighting to gain material benefits, to live better and in peace, to see their lives go forward, to guarantee the future of their children”
Alik Shahadah, scholar and filmmaker looked at history: “The history of humanity testifies to one fact, we do not need religion to exercise violence: Rwanda 0.8 million people  in 100 days, Congo 5,4 million,  Shaka Zulu's  Mfecane, Nigerian-Biafran war 1.2 million, Ethiopia 2 million, we should pause before these figures, and ask "Where is religion?" And outside of Africa: Mao (40 Million), Stalin (20 Million), and Hitler (42 million).
Kenyan clerics across the religious divide vowed to not allow sectarian violence to erupt: "This is not a religious war and it has to be addressed from a different paradigm shift," said Adan Wachu, secretary general of the Supreme Council of Kenya Muslims and the chairman of Inter-Religious Council
Cardinal John Njue said the Roman Catholic Church believed “the country is not at a religious war. We ask all Kenyans to work towards promoting peaceful co-existence.”
Lily Mugombozi- New City Africa