Uganda - the cult of death

The most horrific religious cult mass death in modern history has left Ugandans, as well as the rest of the world, gasping in shock. What were the motives? Was it economic deprivation, a sense of social dislocation or was it pure greed? As Uganda and the rest of Africa struggle to come to terms with the events, Milan Vesely reviews the evidence.

As if the grinding poverty, rampant AIDS and widespread corruption that blight the East African landscape is not enough, they now have a new partner - death by religious devotion. And with the murder of some 924 members of the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God Church leaving Uganda and the world in shock, the human cost of social unrest in African countries is becoming of major concern.

Even Pope John Paul II has taken an interest. "The Holy Father is aware and very concerned about the unfortunate event," the Apostolic Nuncio in Uganda, Archbishop Christophe Pierre, was quoted as saying at a 2 April, non-denominational service for cult victims.

Mass murder for financial gain under a religious pretext is not a new phenomenon to Central Africa, or the world at large. Rwanda's 1994 genocide was rooted in the domination of that country's resources by a Tutsi minority. In many prefectures, such as the parish of Pastor Ntakirutimana of the Seventh Day Adventists church, murders were facilitated by clergymen of different denominations. Directing, organising and often participating in the killings by Hutu extremists, church leaders succumbed to tribal hatred and discarded their religious vows. Extradited from the US on 24 March to face trial at the Rwanda Genocide Tribunal in Arusha, Tanzania, Pastor Ntakirutimana is just one of a growing number of clergymen accused of human rights abuses.

In Uganda, the feared Lord's Resistance Army's rise into a fully fledged rebel movement is rooted in the Acholi people's perception of a lack of government interest in their area as well as in ethnic persecution. Government development projects are virtually non -existent and the tribesmen - originally organised in the late 1980's by the self-styled prophet Alice Lakwena of the Holy Spirit Movement - believe they are discriminated against by the Museveni regime for their support of Idi Amin's murderous reign.

On Uganda's western border, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mai Mai tribesmen steeped in ritualistic mysticism attack both the current rebel movements and President Laurent Kabila's government forces in retribution for their rape of the region's natural resources. These are just a few of the cases where religious devotion is intertwined with social, political and financial overtones.

Cult phenomena

The deaths at Kanungu in western Uganda illustrate how government neglect drives citizens to fall prey to opportunistic religious 'saviours'. And such cult phenomena have been in evidence around the world: Jonestown, Guyana 1978 when 638 adults and 276 children were shot and poisoned, Heavens Gate, San Diego with 39 adults poisoned and the siege of David Koresh's Branch Devidian compound at Mount Carmel, Waco, Texas in 1993 in which 80 religious followers perished by fire. Even in the United States the disillusioned reach out for religious solutions when they feel that society's progress has passed them by. "All are equal in God's kingdom," is an attractive alternative to citizens feeling left out of the mainstream's economic progress.

The Restoration of the Ten Commandments cult at Kanunga in western Uganda was controlled by 12 'Apostles' led by ex- politician Joseph Kibwetere (68), de-frocked Roman Catholic priest Father Dominic Kataribabo (70) and self-styled prophetess, Credonia Mwerinde (48).

Founded 10 years ago, the cult imposed a rigid lifestyle on its adherents that demanded followers sell off all their possessions and give the proceeds to the organisation. Kibwetere, previously a supervisor of Catholic schools in the area, and Mwerinde, a charismatic ex-prostitute, were the spiritual force behind the movement, which had grown to some 5,000 followers spread throughout nine districts around the regional capitol of Mbarara.

So who is this cult leader who had the power of life and death over his misguided flock and where did Kibwetere derive his power from?

"He was once so humble," Joseph Kibwetere's wife Theresa states, "and we were among the richest families in the neighbourhood with three properties, hundreds of cattle and a successful corn milling business." Pointing to a wall plaque with what she claims was her husband's favourite prayer - "Oh Lord God: Help me to keep my big mouth shut until I know what I am talking about," - she breaks down at the thought of her ex-spouse's supposed murders.

Others are equally puzzled by the enigma of Kibwetere's transformation from solid citizen to alleged mass murderer. "One could not have met a better citizen or a more progressive farmer when I knew him," says a prominent member of the former Amin regime who partnered Kibwetere in importing English Star Cross breeding chicks for building up the breeding stock of Uganda chicken farms. "He was a very devout Catholic who fell foul of President Milton Obote's Uganda Peoples Congress and then was marked by the Ugandan secret service who showed little mercy to members of the opposition."

But was this progressive farmer and model citizen really a mass murderer or just a misguided religious zealot? This question perplexes the citizens of Mbarara district as they come to terms with the reality that many of their neighbours were apparently murdered under their very noses. In a community as close as an African rural village, this is a difficult concept to grasp.

"We believe that the deaths are not mass suicide, but mass murder," deputy regional police commander Stephan Musoke said, "and that the leaders, who we believe may be off somewhere enjoying their wealth, have been robbing their gullible followers."

With 105 victims, 59 of whom were children, found in one mass grave and a further 48 bodies found in another, who can believe otherwise? Uganda's Internal Affairs Minister Edward Rugumayo concurred, revealing that up to 330 followers had been lured into the main auditorium of the church only to be burned to death in a fire ignited by gasoline explosions.

No simple solutions

Three additional graves discovered in the week following the initial deaths by fire seem to support this contention. Local police commander Musoke believes that, "The church leaders murdered their followers once they started demanding their possessions back." Regional police chief Cleophas Muhatane volunteered the chilling information that the police had still to visit further sites "where there may be even more mass graves".

So were there no warning signs, no indication that a huge tragedy was in the making?

To outsiders it would appear that all the signs were there and that local authorities either chose to ignore them, or to deliberately cover up the potential danger. "Intelligence officers had filed reports but these were 'sat on' by regional administrators," President Yoweri Museveni said on a visit to the United Kingdom. "The only cover-up was that they were religious people and no one was checking on them."

President Museveni's statement was followed by the arrest of Amooti Mutazindwa, the assistant district commissioner for Kanunga, and himself a suspected member of the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments cult. "Other arrests are also imminent," police chief Muhatane added, confirming that an international arrest warrant had also been issued for Kibwetere and Mwerindi.

Not all Ugandans believe that fraud was the guiding motive behind the cult deaths, however. Many Ugandan religious leaders believe that competition for political influence between western religious denominations during the colonial era has resulted in deep disillusionment with mainstream religion and left a vacuum now being filled by home grown religious zealots.

"The Anglican and Catholic churches have to admit their past mistakes," Pastor Alex Mitala, Ugandan representative for the Christian Men's Network of Dallas stated on a visit to the United States. "When ordinary Ugandans question religious doctrines taught by foreign pastors they often turn to the question: Which way to God? In such situations they fall prey to charlatans and other such misguided individuals."

Driving his point home Pastor Mitala pointed out that until recently mainstream churches taught rural Ugandans that, "If you touch a lady's breast outside of wedlock it is the action of the devil and they will fall off! Once this is patently not so, Ugandans begin to doubt the sincerity of all religious teachings," he adds.

Others with a distinct political bent raise even more troubling questions. In a communique, ex-President Milton Obote of the banned Uganda Peoples Congress (UPC) claims that the bodies are not of cult members at all but of government political enemies, killed in large-scale, extra-judicial massacres by the Ugandan security services. "How can five people kill over 900 persons without some escaping?" he questions, while pointing out that many government critics have mysteriously disappeared in recent months.

In a strident e-mail message sent from Kampala to various reporters, opposition supporter Yoswa Nkalubo (claiming to be on the run from government security agents) states that more bodies are buried in latrines all over the Ankole and Kigezi districts and that these are of opposition members being eliminated under the guise of having been killed by the cult leaders.

"Please contact international human rights organisations as to our plight down here," he pleads. "The government is finishing us off!"

Whatever the truth in such questionable theories, the fact that so few families have come forward to report missing relatives is hindering the process of identifying those bodies that have been found. Local authorities are suggesting that many of the bodies may never be identified.

Long history of skewed religion

Christianity was originally imposed on Uganda by early British explorers such as Stanley, Samuel Baker and David Livingstone. Financed by the African Missionary Society and the Royal Geographical Society, these early explorers introduced the new religion to East Africa while continuing their business of trade and exploration.

As independence arrived in 1962, many in the society were disillusioned with government corruption and economic neglect. Sects and cults began to proliferate across Uganda.

In the last year alone the Ugandan government raided an illegal camp at Ntusi in the Sambabule district run by a prophetess who said to eat nothing but honey, disbanded the 1,000 member World Message Last Warning Church in central Luwero and banned the Holy Spirit Movement operating from the southern Sudan. While temporarily solving the cult problem, such high-handed government tactics have driven religious followers into the many rebel movements now proliferating along Uganda's western border. No one doubts that this will cost the Museveni government millions of dollars in increased military expenditure and that it carries the risk of further alienating the local populations.

Many African countries rely on religious organisations to provide basic services. Education, health and outpatient clinical programmes run by church organisations are supplemented by famine aid to needy areas. The Catholic diocese in Uganda spends over $5m a year on maintaining schools in the Acholi district alone. Without such aid many Acholi children would have no educational opportunities at all and recruitment to Joseph Koney's Lord's Resistance Army would rise dramatically. It is not just basic services that are provided by the dedicated pastors and priests of the Anglican, Catholic, Lutheran and, increasingly, Muslim institutions. The training expertise of Catholic Father Colm O'Connel in Kenya has enabled Kenyan athletes to win $300,000 dollar plus prize monies in the Boston and New York marathons. Without Catholic church support the financial outlay for his training programmes would not be possible.

As perplexed Ugandans and a horrified world watch aghast as more bodies are unearthed in an ever increasing number of mass graves, the question remains what was behind it? Was it fraud, government neglect or a disillusioned religious fervour? Whatever the final answer, one can be sure that some of each will have played a part in the tragic events at Kununga, western Uganda. One can also be sure that cults, by their very nature, encourage blind obedience to a single leader leaving followers at their mercy.

A former member of the Amin regime says the deaths cannot be pinned on the legacy of the dictator. "The fact is that from the day Amin took power a lack of human rights and an increasing number of arbitrary deaths have been the means used by tyrants who conceal themselves within the word of God to stay in power."

Others such as Pastor Alex Mitala are less politically partisan. "How can Uganda afford to lose up to 1,000 people just waiting for the Virgin Mary?" he questions. "And how can we change the situation so that our citizens stop looking to cults to supply something they have missed?"

The last straw?

As the battle against AIDS, government corruption and widespread famine sap the Ugandan people's strength, its international friends can only hope that 'death by religious devotion' does not become another widespread phenomena with which a happy and inherently cheerful people have to cope.

Pastor Mitala sums up the world's horror which Ugandan Vice-President Specioza Kazibwe said may climb to over 1,000 when all graves are excavated. "Will it be the 'straw that broke the camel's back'," he questions, "or will it be just another cross Ugandans have to bear?"

As patience with government policies, western religious teachings and false prophets promising 'pie in the sky' salvation runs out, one can only hope that the wake-up call of so many deaths will be acted upon. Simply dismissing the murders at Kanunga as one of the many trials and tribulations blighting Ugandan lives is not good enough. No nation deserves being host to the largest mass suicide or mass murder in history and Uganda's warm-hearted citizens do not deserve such a gruesome fate.

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