KAMPALA: Three days after the world's second biggest cult killing, which put Uganda in the world's spotlight, the Ugandan Government has come up with a series of measures which aim to contain and eventually uproot increasingly rampant cult activities in the country.

On Friday, more than 330 members, including 78 children, of a doomsday cult called the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God, set themselves ablaze in a simple church in Uganda's southwestern district of Rukungiri. This incident shocked all Ugandans and hit both local and international newspaper headlines.

The cult followers, primarily women and children, sold their properties and paid their graduated taxes beforehand.

They reportedly sang and danced for hours before dousing themselves in petrol and paraffin and nailing shut all possible exits and lighting the fire. The cult was registered as a non-governmental organization in 1993.

Ugandan police sealed off the area soon after the incident occurred, and a team of experts including forensic doctors are still investigating the case.

On Sunday, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni condemned the practice in the strongest terms possible, describing it as a "horrific, senseless and tragic act."

He criticized leaders of some religious cults which are increasingly luring unsuspecting people, taking advantage of their properties and misleading them into beliefs that endanger their lives.

He said the government would do all it could to protect the lives of its people and to ensure that Ugandans are not at the mercy of some dangerous and opportunistic individuals who parade themselves as religious leaders.

During a press conference at the meeting room of the Ministry of Internal Affairs on Monday evening, Minister Edward Rugumayo said that his ministry would scrutinize the details of institutions applying to register as non-governmental organizations.

John Kisembo said the police would treat the case as involving both murder and suicide. The children were obviously brought to the church by their parents who were the cult believers.

"This is murder," he said. No parents should have the right of life or death over their children.

Uganda has recently discovered and destroyed two cults, both close to the capital city Kampala.

In September 1999, police destroyed a similar doomsday cult named the World Message Last Warning in the Luweero District, rescuing most of the believers.

Central Region Police Commander Chris Bakesiima said on Monday that the operation had protected 1,000 believers, 900 of them women and children.

Self-styled prophet Wilson Bushara, who was the leader of the Luweero cult, was later accused of rape, defilement, abductions and unlawful confinement.

Not long after that, a similar cult surfaced in Ntuusi in the Ssembabule District. A combined operation by police and army destroyed the cult, and self-styled prophet Gwajwa Nabaasa was arrested.

As Rugumayo said during the press conference, the Rukungiri event sounded a timely warning to both the government and its people.

Xinhua 2000/03/22