Religious mass suicide or massacre? The Kanungu case
By Nathan Byamukama

Introduction

I was asked to present a paper on "Religious Mass Suicide in Western Uganda". I beg to change the topic a bit and call what happened in Kanungu, Western Uganda a "Massacre" rather than a "Mass Suicide". I have a copy of the report here but I will present just the highlights: the highlights of the Uganda Human Rights Commission report on the Kanungu Massacre (2000). The Report is a product of the findings of a team set up by the Commission a month after the Kanungu inferno incident of 17th March 2000.

The team's terms of reference included to visit all scenes of the tragedy, get as much information as possible from LCs and other local administration officials of the areas visited, the police, religious leaders, opinion leaders and neighbours of the places where people were killed, and collect all possible literature of and about the cult. And then develop the findings into an official report to government and to the people of Uganda. About 40 people were interviewed. All of them seemed to indicate that the followers were put to death rather than themselves committing suicide.

The Report does not dwell on the theoretical foundations of the cult or even cults in general. It only establishes facts surrounding the cult and the circumstances that led to the mass murder of hundreds of people in such a covert manner that it eluded the suspicion of the authorities and even the local population where the cult operated.

The Report is basically an indictment of a cult that behaved in a devilish, satanic and criminal manner and violated all human rights. The report could be a basis for convicting the ringleaders of the cult, if any of them could still be alive.

Findings

Most of the findings about Kanungu are now known and are already in the public domain, especially regarding how many people died, who killed them and where they were killed, how and where they were buried and reburied and by who. What might not be known are a few details of how the cult was able to sustain itself and the extent of the human rights violations that were committed, and this report makes a contribution towards bridging that gap.

(i) First of all we called what happened in Kanungu and other areas a Massacre because we came out convinced that it was not a mass suicide. At first it was thought that it was mass suicide by the members of the cult who were convinced about going to heaven through fire. However, our findings established that it was mass murder organised by a few members of the cult leadership. The victims of the inferno included children too young to make independent decisions.
(ii) The brains behind " The Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God "cult was not Kibwetere as most people tend to believe. It was Credonia Mwerinde who recruited Kibwetere and priests like Fr Ikazire and Kasapurari into the cult and she controlled all of them. However, Kibwetere was used as "a sign post" as one of our interviewees put it, because of his high profile in society. For the term "Kibwetere cult" to be a short hand for "The Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God" is a misnomer and patriarchy - the belief that all big things must be engineered by men - could have played a role in the nomenclature here.
(iii) Most of the victims were women and children. For example, out of 153 bodies exhumed in Buhunga, Rukungiri district, 94 were adults with the majority women, and 59 were children.
- In Rugazi, Bunyaruguru district out of the 155 bodies exhumed 96 (63%) were female victims while 57 (37%) were male and 2 could not be categorised..
- In Nyakishojwa, Ruhinda County, Bushenyi district, where 81 bodies ' were exhumed 58 (71%) bodies were female while 23 (28%) bodies - were male.
- In Buziga, Kampala where 55 bodies were exhumed 32 (58%) were female while 23 (42%) were male.
- A total of 444 bodies were exhumed and reburied (excluding those who burnt in Kanungu). Out of the bodies that were categorized between children and adults (363 bodies) 149 (41%) were children. Why more women than men fell victim of this cult, we did not bother to establish. It is an area worth exploring through further studies and investigations.
(iv) The idea that poverty was an ideal among the people of the cult was not sustainable in our investigations. On the contrary it was established that it was the cult that impoverished its followers by hoodwinking them into selling all their property.
(v) Fears of some people who were (or believed be) affected or afflicted with HIV/AIDs drew some aspiration to the cult and could have been some of the ardent followers of the cult.
(vi) There was high possibility that Kibwetere did not die in the inferno of the 17th March 2000. He was last seen in 1999 when he was seriously sick. He could have died naturally earlier than that.
(vii) There was high proof that Mr Kibwetere had a love affair with Credonia Mwerinde and that contributed to the mistreatment that Tereza Kibwetere the legitimate wife of Kibwetere was subjected to by Mwerinde - to the point of isolating Tereza and his children from the cult.
(viii) There was also a high possibility that Fr Kataribabo did not burn in the inferno but prepared for its execution. He had disappeared a day before the incident when the leaders (together with him) were coming from Rukungiri town at night to buy items for the festivities of the day before they died. Either he died thereafter or he might still be around.
(ix) It is probable that the other leaders including Mwerinde, died in the inferno.
(x) While everybody else believed in going to heaven on that day, it is probably Mwerinde that knew she was committing suicide and was probably going to Hell. She had told all the lies, she was facing internal resistance, she had impoverished her followers and killed some of them piecemeal and she would have been killed if she did not kill herself. To kill everybody with her was the remaining satisfaction she would derive from the last of her criminal activities on earth - and she succeeded.
(xi) There were signs of negligence on the part of some state officials. Some foresighted leaders like Rtd RDC -Kamacerere had warned against the registration of the cult and even briefed his successor against, the activities of the cult. His successor never accepted his advice and instead fraternised with the cult members and eventually helped them to register.
(xii) There was also strong evidence of a lack of preparedness on the part of the state to deal with disaster like that in Kanungu. This was evident when they used prisoners with unprotected wear to exhume and rebury decomposing bodies. This was unethical, violated the rights of prisoners and exposed the state's unpreparedness about disasters.
(xiii) The report outlines 20 ways in which the cult managed to successfully execute its criminal mission without much suspicion: This included:
o Promises of the end of the world
o Restrictions on the enjoyment of all human rights especially freedom of speech
o Separation of families
o Erecting fences around their camps and situating their camps ins strategic position to be avoid impromptu visits
o Keeping within the law
o Reliance on deception and lies and bible-reading out of context to suit their interest
o They usually travelled at night and could therefore not be noticed by neighbours
o They had a tight schedule in camps that kept followers to busy to discuss anything
o They commanded their followers to sell all their property and become dependent on them
o They exploited the general belief in Uganda that that religious people are usually innocent, humble, harmless and peace-loving
o Followers were constantly shifted to new places and new environment
o There was possible use of drugs and poisoning in the killings

Conclusion

From a human rights perspective, it does not matter how one wants to worship who or whatever he believes in. You can believe in God, gods or something else, but your belief should not and never violate or be intended to violate human rights. But the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God violated almost all human rights and for that it should be condemned, avoided , rejected and never be imitated in any its ways by any of us.

Nathan Byamukama is Head of Department, Monitoring and Treaties, with the Uganda Human Rights Commission