{UAH} By the way, where's KIBWETERE?

Many details of Kibweteere's life, and especially death, remain
unclear. What is known is that he came from a strongly pious Catholic
background and was likely wealthy by Ugandan standards. The second
idea comes from the fact he ran for political office in 1980 and had
enough land to donate for a school of his own design. The Catholic
school he founded and led was apparently orthodox and at that point he
had a positive image in the community. In 1960 he married a woman who
would prove to outlive him.

The Uganda he lived in suffered from both religious and political
upheaval which likely influenced him. The strongest of which may have
been religious movements that emphasized miracles and Marian
apparitions. In 1984 he claimed to be experiencing sightings of the
Virgin Mary. This vision had been brought to him by Credonia Mwerinde.

Around 1989 he came into contact with a woman named Credonia Mwerinde,
a prostitute who claimed she was looking to repent for her sins. She
had a background of claimed experiences dating back further than
Kibwetree. Credonia claimed that she could see the virgin Mary when
looking at a stone on the mountains. The stone looked the spitting
image of the Virgin Mary. Her father claimed to have had a vision of
his dead daughter Evangelista as early as 1960. His children and
grandchildren would be affected by this. By 1989, Credonia and her
Ursula were travelling through Uganda spreading the family's message.
When Credonia met Joseph he welcomed her with open arms and shared his
own experiences. This would lead to their forming the Movement for the
Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God.

After the death of Credonia's father, he became leader of the group.
In the 1990s they strongly emphasized apocalypticism in their booklet
A Timely Message from Heaven: The End of the Present Time. Hence he
led an elite group of six men and six women deemed to be the "new
apostles." These apostles had an equal number of women because of the
emphasis they placed on Mother Mary as instrumental in sweeping them
toward heaven. The group stated several dates where it would be the
end of the world, however, several of these dates passed by with no
sign of an apocalypse. Reportedly he stated that the year 2000 would
be followed by "year 1 of the new world." These and other claims had
little effect on the wider world. For the most part he remained an
obscure figure in Uganda and never formally split with the Catholic
Church.

In March 2000 the group began slaughtering cattle and buying massive
amounts of Coca-Cola. These events did not initially raise alarm, but
they were preparation for a feast before death. On March 17,
Kibweteere apparently died in the group's mass suicide. A member of
Kibweteere's family stated that Joseph's actions were completely
influenced by Credonia Mwerinde.

A great deal remains unclear about his story and the movement. The BBC
reported that Kibweteere had been treated for bipolar disorder a year
or so before the group suicide. At the time the Ugandan authorities
considered him a fugitive and mass-murderer because they believed him
to have escaped. The date and nature of the apocalypse they expected
is debated. There is one camp that indicates they believed it would
come in 1999 and that the 2000 suicide was caused by the failure of
that prophecy. This would seem confirmed by some of their activities
of 1999, but in their literature 2000 is often seen as the end year.
The nature of his role and significance to the events is also
disputed. Due to the circumstances of events, satisfactory answers to
these and other questions may never be forthcoming.

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