Cult News

A sensational claim was made this week by a government official in Uganda regarding infamous African cult leader Joseph Kibwetere, reports New Vision.

Kibwetere led the cult called the “Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God,” which ended its history in 2001 through a horrific mass murder/suicide that claimed the lives of hundreds of followers.

This tragedy occurred after doomsday predictions made by Kibwetere and his accomplice Credonia Mwerinde failed to materialize at the turn of the millenium.

A Ugandan elected official told a parliamentary committee on Wednesday that Kibwetere altered his appearance through “plastic surgery” and now lives in Israel.

He offered no proof to support this claim.

Kibwetere and Mwerinde’s bodies were never recovered. There were persistent rumors that Mwerinde may have escaped after looting the group’s assets.

However, many believe Kibwetere is dead, though his remains have never been positively identified.

It is very doubtful that such a notorious cult leader could have successfully entered Israel, which is a country known for its tight security and carefully monitored immigration.

The Ugandan cult murder/suicide probably exceeded the number of deaths at Jonestown, making it the most horrific cult tragedy in recorded history.

But due to the lack of forensic and technical assistance available in Uganda, a true count of the dead will never be known.

The Mungiki sect or “cult” has a horrific history of murder and mayhem in Kenya. Last week alone 32 people were murdered by cult members, only the latest victims of the cult’s reign of terror, reports Sunday Nation.

However, the international media rarely devotes its resources for meaningful in-depth coverage of the brutal cult killings in Africa.

Why?

When 39 members of a relatively obscure American cult known as “Heaven’s Gate” committed suicide in 1997 it made headlines and generated seemingly endless journalistic analysis.

And in 1994 when 53 members of the then obscure Solar Temple were found dead in Switzerland, that too became the focus of rapt international press concern.

The Mungiki movement may include more than 2 million members and seems intent upon destablizing a government.

Just after 2000 hundreds of bodies were recovered in Uganda, the direct result of brutal cult slayings and suicide connected to “The Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments.” But again this didn’t generate the same international news coverage that much less historically significant cults did outside of Africa .

Why?

In 1978 when 900 Americans died in an isolated cult compound in Guyana called “Jonestown” there was no shortage of journalists willing to cover that story. More than that number probably died in Uganda, but we will never know due to a lack of forensic assistance and it seems international interest.

Apparently African cult tragedies somehow don’t rate the same attention from the international media and community.

It appears that many news outlets think cult members must be white, American, European or at least from an industrialized nation such as Japan (i.e. Aum), to be worthy serious concern and meaningful in-depth reporting.