Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God
Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God | |
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Founder |
The Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God was a religious movement founded by
On 17 March 2000, followers of the religious movement died in a fire and a series of poisonings and killings, which were initially considered a mass suicide. That initial suspicion was revised to mass murder when hundreds of other bodies were discovered in pits at sites related to the movement that had died at least weeks prior to the event. It was later determined to be a mass murder by the group's leaders, after their predictions of the apocalypse failed to come about. In their coverage of that event, BBC News and The New York Times referred to the Movement as a doomsday cult. At least 778 people died in total.
Beliefs
The goals of the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God were to obey the
Movement leaders declared that the apocalypse would occur on December 31, 1999. The group had a strong emphasis on an apocalyptic end time, highlighted by their booklet A Timely Message from Heaven: The End of the Present Time.
The Movement developed a
Background
The
A former member of another unrelated sect, Paul Ikazire, would explain his motivation to join the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God, "We joined the movement as a protest against the Catholic Church. We had good intentions. The church was backsliding, the priests were covered in scandals and the AIDS scourge was taking its toll on the faithful. The world seemed poised to end."[1]
History
Founding
The earliest origins of the movement have been traced back to
The group had diverged from the Catholic Church in order to emphasize
Middle years
The sect grew in importance with the arrival of Dominic Kataribabo, a respected and popular priest with a
In 1992 the group was ordered out of Rwashamaire by village elders, and moved to
As the new millennium approached preparations for the end mounted. In 1999, the state-owned New Vision newspaper ran an interview with a teenage member. He said, "The world ends next year. There is no time to waste. Some of our leaders talk directly to God. Any minute from now, when the end comes, every believer who will be at an as yet undisclosed spot will be saved."[8]
Apocalypse claims and mass murder
With the new year looming, activity by Movement members became frenzied, their leaders urged them to confess their sins in preparation for the end. Clothes and cattle were sold cheaply, past members were re-recruited, and all work in the fields ceased. January 1, 2000, passed without the advent of the apocalypse, and the Movement began to unravel. Questions were asked of Mwerinde and Kibweteere,[9] and payments to the Church decreased dramatically. Ugandan police believe that some members, who had been required to sell their possessions and turn over the money to the Movement, rebelled and demanded the return of their money.[1] It is believed that events that followed were orchestrated by sect leaders in response to the crisis in the ranks.[10]
Leading up to the new millennium, cult leaders urged members to confess their sins and sell material possessions while attempts were made to bring former members back into the group. After the passing of 1 January 2000, without an apocalypse, many became disillusioned with the group and another date was chosen by leaders for the apocalypse to occur, with 17 March 2000 being announced, which the New York Times reported the leaders said would come "with ceremony, and finality".[10] The Movement held a huge party at Kanungu, where they roasted three bulls and drank 70 crates of soft drinks (most being Coca-Cola).[1] Minutes after the members arrived at the party, nearby villagers heard an explosion, and the building was gutted in an intense fire that killed all 530 in attendance. The windows and doors of the building had been boarded up to prevent people from leaving.[9][11]
The fire alerted the Ugandan authorities as to what had been occurring in the Movement. Several days before, Movement leader Dominic Kataribabo had been seen buying 50 liters of sulfuric acid, which may have started the fire. Another party was planned for the eighteenth, which officials believe sect leaders had announced in order to mislead authorities as to their plans.[12] The whereabouts of the five principal cult leaders Joseph Kibweteere, Joseph Kasapurari, John Kamagara, Dominic Kataribabo, and Credonia Mwerinde are unknown (all having presumably escaped).
Four days after the church fire, police investigated Movement properties and discovered hundreds of bodies at sites across southern Uganda.[10] Six bodies were discovered sealed in the latrine of the Kanungu compound, as well as 153 bodies at a compound in Buhunage, 155 bodies at Dominic Kataribabo's estate at Rugazi, where they had been poisoned and stabbed, and another 81 bodies lay at leader Joseph Nymurinda's farm. Police stated that they had been murdered about three weeks before the church inferno.[12] though a 2020 BBC report suggested that that the bodies had accumulated over several years.[7]
On that day, locals said they held a party at which 70 crates of soft drinks and three bulls were consumed.[13] This version of events has been criticised, most notably by Irving Hexham,[14] and an unidentified Ugandan source states that "no one can really explain the whys, hows, whats, where, when, et cetera." Minutes after the members arrived at the party, nearby villagers heard an explosion, and the building was gutted in an intense fire that killed all 530 in attendance. The windows and doors of the building had been boarded up to prevent people from leaving.[11][9] A neighbour who lived near to the cult later recounted that the fire caused everything to be covered in smoke, soot, and the stench of burnt flesh, and that many could not eat meat for several months after the fire.[7]
Aftermath
Medical examiners determined that the majority of the 395 individuals who did not die in the fire had been poisoned. Early reports suggested that they had been strangled based on the presence of twisted banana fibers around their necks. After searching all sites, the police announced the final death toll had settled at 924, six more than the Peoples Temple in 1978.[11][1]
The initial suspicion that all of the members died in a mass suicide was revised to mass murder when hundreds of other bodies were discovered in pits at sites related to the movement that had died at least weeks prior to the event, some with signs of strangulation while others had stab wounds.
The Ugandan government responded with condemnation. President Yoweri Museveni called the event a "mass murder by these priests for monetary gain". Vice president Dr. Speciosa Wandira Kazibwe said, "These were callously, well-orchestrated mass murders perpetrated by a network of diabolic, malevolent criminals masquerading as religious people."[9]
Although it was initially assumed that the five leaders died in the fire, police now believe that Joseph Kibweteere and Credonia Mwerinde may still be alive, and have issued an international
See also
- Lord's Resistance Army
- Xhosa cattle-killing movement and famine of 1856–1857
- Good News International Ministries
References
- ^ ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 23 November 2015.
- ^ Cauvin, Henri E. (27 March 2000). "Fateful Meeting Led to Founding of Cult in Uganda". The New York Times. p. 3. Retrieved 20 January 2020.
- ^ a b c d e f "Quiet cult's doomsday deaths". BBC News. 29 March 2000. Retrieved 27 October 2007.
- ^ a b "Cults: Why East Africa?". BBC News. 20 March 2000. Retrieved 27 October 2007.
- ^ a b c d e "The preacher and the prostitute". BBC News. 29 March 2000. Retrieved 27 October 2007.
- ^ Nakyanzi, Logan (14 February 2000). "Uganda: Religion That Kills – Why Does Uganda Have So Many Cults?". ABC News. Retrieved 9 January 2022.
- ^ a b c d e f Atuhaire, Patience (17 March 2020). "Uganda's Kanungu cult massacre that killed 700 followers". BBC News. Retrieved 24 April 2023.
- ^ a b Borzello, Anna (20 March 2000). "A party, prayers, then mass suicide". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 October 2007.
- ^ a b c d e f Fisher, Ian (3 April 2000). "Uganda Survivor Tells of Questions When World Didn't End". The New York Times. p. 3. Retrieved 20 January 2020.
- ^ a b c d Cauvin, Henri E. (26 March 2000). "Evidence Indicates Uganda Cult Held an Eerie Prelude to Fire". The New York Times. p. 5. Retrieved 20 January 2020.
- ^ a b c d e "Cult in Uganda Poisoned Many, Police Say". The New York Times. Agence France-Presse. 28 July 2000. p. 4. Retrieved 20 January 2020.
- ^ a b Borzello, Anna (25 March 2000). "Mass graves found in sect house". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 March 2005.
- TIME. Vol. 155, no. 13. Archived from the originalon 10 February 2001. Retrieved 9 January 2022.
- ^ Hexham, Irving (Summer 2000). "What Really Happened in Uganda? Suicide or Murder". Religion in the News. 3 (2): 7–9, 24. Archived from the original on 29 December 2010. Retrieved 9 January 2022.
- ^ Mugisha, Matthias (28 July 2000). "Kanungu Dead Poisoned". New Vision.
- ^ Kanungu Massacre: Report claims Kibwetere is hiding in Malawi (Video). NTV Uganda. 3 April 2014. Archived from the original on 12 December 2021. Retrieved 16 April 2018 – via YouTube.
Further reading
Books
- Atuhaire, Bernard (2003). The Uganda Cult Tragedy: A Private Investigation. Janus Publishing Company Lim. ISBN 978-1-85756-521-8.
- Vokes, Richard (2009). Ghosts of Kanungu: Fertility, Secrecy & Exchange in the Great Lakes of East Africa. ISBN 978-1-84701-009-4.
- Bwire, Robert (2015). Ashes of Faith: A Doomsday Cult's Orchestration of Mass Murder in Africa. ISBN 978-1-931882-70-5.
News
- "Religion That Kills". ABC News. 14 February 2001. Retrieved 20 March 2005.
- "Death cult activities 'ignored'". BBC News. 20 March 2000. Retrieved 20 March 2005.
- Businge, Gerald (17 March 2007). "Seven Years Since the Kanungu Massacre". UGPulse. Archived from the original on 11 October 2007. Retrieved 18 March 2007.