On Monday, 74 bodies were found in the home of Dominic Kataribabo, defrocked Roman Catholic priest and one of the leaders of the Christian doomsday sect known as the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God. Many of the victims showed signs of strangulation or other kinds of homicide. One woman was found in the backyard with a banana leaf around her neck and another victim’s skull had been crushed.

Another site was discovered last Friday when police found 153 bodies under a building used by the cult in the southwest Ugandan city of Buhunga. At this site, many of the victims were apparently clubbed, strangled or hacked to death (Globe and Mail, March 27).

Members of the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God professed the belief that the world would end on Dec. 31, 1999.

Some authorities believe that when the movement’s prediction did not come true, members demanded the return of the possessions that they had turned over to join the cult, and this led to the killings. On Tuesday, authorities indicated that they are planning to issue an international arrest warrant for the leaders of the sect.

Meanwhile, authorities are investigating the possibility that the two main leaders of the movement – Cledonia Mwerinde and Joseph Kibweteree – survived the March 17 blaze. They are afraid that they have escaped across Uganda’s border to Congo.

The police are also investigating the possibility that many victims were poisoned, since many of the victims’ bodies showed no signs of violence.

“You can’t kill all these human beings alone,” said Godrey Bangirana, an assistant police commissioner. “This was an organized crime. And an organized crime cannot be committed by one person. It must be a group” (New York Times, March 29).

Compiled by Natasja VanderBerg, Editor in chief