Over 200 dead in Uganda mass suicide

Over 200 dead in Uganda mass suicide
AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE

KAMPALA, MARCH 19: More than 200 people died in an apparent mass suicide by a doomsday cult in a makeshift church in western Uganda, the country's police chief said.

On Friday morning, members of the Ten Commandments of God cult entered their church in Kanungu, Rukingire district, and reportedly set themselves ablaze.

Uganda's chief inspector of police, John Kisembo, told AFP: "It is not clear exactly how many died or who they were, because inside the church it was a mass of charred bodies."

He added that it was also not clear whether the cult's leader, Joseph Kibwetere, was among the dead, or whether he had escaped before his followers burnt to death.

If confirmed the mass suicide would be the worst since the death of 912 members of the People's Temple sect, led by Jim Jones, in the jungles of Guyana.

And details of the events in Kanungu, about 320 kilometres southwest of Kampala, are still sketchy.

Local people told police that in the last week cult members had been selling their property in Kanungu trading centre, near the Democratic Republic of Congo border, in apparent preparation for their death.

On March 14, Kibwetere, held a party for his church - buying up crates of soft drink for the event.

A police investigation team flew to the scene yesterday but have yet to return to the capital Kampala. A group of doctors will also go to the area to begin the gruesome task of sifting through the burnt remains, Kisembo told AFP.

The Ugandan government has in the past year cracked down on cults, claiming that they are a threat to its members and the local communities.