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Date: | Wed, 23 Jul 2003 19:25:36 -0500 |
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Uganda's spiritual war heats up
Controversy is brewing in Uganda after a proposal by traditional healers
to use killer bees and diseases such as smallpox to help beat the rebels
of the Lords Resistance Army (LRA).
The LRA has been fighting since the late 1980s to replace President
Yoweri Museveni's secular government in a campaign marked by brutality
against civilians.
The government has appeared powerless in recent months to halt
intensified rebel attacks.
But now a group of traditional healers, whose own alleged spiritual
powers afford them both fear and respect among many poor and rural
communities, have offered to step in.
The secretary general of the national council for traditional healers
and herbalists association (Nacotha), Karim Msasizi, told BBC News
Online they had already sent their proposal to the government.
He said it was in response to an appeal by junior Defence Minister Ruth
Nankabirwa for spiritual support in the fight against the LRA rebels.
"The entire operation will be under the control of around five highly
qualified traditional healers," said Mr Msasizi.
But Ms Nankabirwa has denied the claim by Nacotha.
In a press statement, she said that what she originally said was that
fear of the LRA leader Joseph Kony's alleged spiritual powers was so
deep that people were scared to volunteer information to the government
security forces lest Kony spiritually identifies and kill them.
She, however, admitted saying that the government would welcome any
contributions to the war against the LRA.
Invincibility
The traditional healers said that they would also empower the army with
charms.
"We will equip the Uganda People's Defence Force with charms that will
make them invincible," said Mr Msasizi.
Nacotha is not sure whether President Yoweri Museveni's government will
accept the offer.
And if it does there are conditions that will have to be met before the
traditional healers can move into the war zone.
All white people, including the United Nations UN and Red Cross staff,
must leave the war zone, they say.
"The white people do not respect our culture and their presence would be
detrimental to the operation," says Mr Msasizi.
They also want the government to set up a "traditional cathedral" after
Mr Kony is killed.
Story from BBC NEWS:
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