ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia
Eighty members of a Ugandan
religious cult who had been convinced to travel to Ethiopia and starve
themselves have been repatriated, authorities in Uganda say.
Their pastor allegedly told
them that they would “meet Jesus Christ” after fasting for 40 days.
A joint police operation is
now leading a search for cult leader Simon Opolot.
In Kenya, a different
religious figure is alleged to have convinced hundreds to starve themselves to
death.
The 80 members of the Christ
Disciples Church reportedly got rid of their belongings earlier this year and
then travelled from a rural area in eastern Uganda to southern Ethiopia, a
distance of around 500km (320 miles).
“The returnees have said
Pastor Opolot convinced them to fast for 40 days so that they can meet Jesus on
the 41st day,” Simon Mundeyi, the spokesperson for Uganda’s internal affairs
ministry is quoted by the Daily Monitor newspaper as saying.
“The condition was that to
meet Jesus, they needed to be in Ethiopia, and according to him, the world
would immediately end.”
But once the Ethiopian
authorities learned of their arrival in March, they were picked up and looked
after until the repatriation was arranged, the AFP news agency reports.
Mr Mundeyi is quoted by the
Daily Monitor as saying that members of the group, mainly made up of teachers
and civil servants, were already very fragile after their long journey without
any food.
In 2000, at least 700 Ugandan
members of the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God died
after being locked in a church which was then set alight.
In Kenya, Pastor Paul Nthenge
Mackenzie is currently in custody, accused of urging people to starve
themselves to death. More than 280 bodies have been found in shallow graves in
a remote forest.
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