Alice Auma (1956 – 17 January 2007) was an Acholi spirit-medium who, as the head of the
Holy Spirit MovementThe Holy Spirit Movement was the Ugandan rebel group led by Alice Auma, a spirit-medium who claimed to receive direction from the spirit Lakwena. Alice, an ethnic Acholi, was purportedly directed to form the HSM by Lakwena in August 1986...
, led a
millennialThis article covers all forms of Christian and non-Christian Millennialism. You may be looking for the specific articles on Christian Premillennialism, Amillennialism or Postmillenialism....
rebellion against the
UgandaThe Republic of Uganda is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by Tanzania...
n government forces of President
Yoweri MuseveniYoweri Kaguta Museveni has been the President of Uganda since 29 January 1986.Museveni was involved in a war that deposed Idi Amin, ending his rule in 1979, and in the rebellion that subsequently led to the demise of the Milton Obote regime in 1985...
from August 1986 until November 1987. The primary
spiritThe English word "spirit" has many differing meanings and connotations, but commonly refers to a supernatural being or essence — transcendent and therefore metaphysical in its nature: the Concise Oxford Dictionary defines it as "the non-physical part of a person"...
she purportedly channeled was that of a dead Italian army officer called "
Lakwena", meaning messenger, which the Acholi believe to be a manifestation of the Christian
Holy SpiritIn Christianity, the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God. In mainstream Christian beliefs he is the third person of the Trinity. As part of the Godhead, the Holy Spirit is equal with God the Father and with God the Son....
.
Alice Auma (1956 – 17 January 2007) was an Acholi spirit-medium who, as the head of the
Holy Spirit MovementThe Holy Spirit Movement was the Ugandan rebel group led by Alice Auma, a spirit-medium who claimed to receive direction from the spirit Lakwena. Alice, an ethnic Acholi, was purportedly directed to form the HSM by Lakwena in August 1986...
, led a
millennialThis article covers all forms of Christian and non-Christian Millennialism. You may be looking for the specific articles on Christian Premillennialism, Amillennialism or Postmillenialism....
rebellion against the
UgandaThe Republic of Uganda is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by Tanzania...
n government forces of President
Yoweri MuseveniYoweri Kaguta Museveni has been the President of Uganda since 29 January 1986.Museveni was involved in a war that deposed Idi Amin, ending his rule in 1979, and in the rebellion that subsequently led to the demise of the Milton Obote regime in 1985...
from August 1986 until November 1987. The primary
spiritThe English word "spirit" has many differing meanings and connotations, but commonly refers to a supernatural being or essence — transcendent and therefore metaphysical in its nature: the Concise Oxford Dictionary defines it as "the non-physical part of a person"...
she purportedly channeled was that of a dead Italian army officer called "
Lakwena", meaning messenger, which the Acholi believe to be a manifestation of the Christian
Holy SpiritIn Christianity, the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God. In mainstream Christian beliefs he is the third person of the Trinity. As part of the Godhead, the Holy Spirit is equal with God the Father and with God the Son....
. The combined persona of Alice Auma channeling the spirit Lakwena is often referred to as
Alice Lakwena.
Biography
Alice Auma was born in 1956. Remaining childless after two marriages, she moved away from her hometown. She eventually converted to
CatholicismCatholicism is a broad term for the body of the Catholic faith, its theologies and doctrines, its liturgical, ethical, spiritual, and behavioral characteristics, as well as a religious people as a whole...
but, on 25 May 1985, she reportedly went ‘insane’, unable to either hear or speak, later claiming to have been possessed by a spirit, Lakwena. Her father took her to eleven different witches but none alleviated her condition. Alice claimed Lakwena then guided her to Paraa National Park, where she disappeared for 40 days and returned a spirit-medium, a traditional ethnic religious role.
Prior to the defeat of
Tito OkelloTito Lutwa Okello was one of the commanders in the coalition between the Tanzanian army and the exiled Ugandans who removed Idi Amin in 1979, the Commander of the Ugandan National Liberation Army from 1980 to 1985, and the President of Uganda from 1985 to 1986.In 1985, together with Bazilio...
, Alice Auma was one of many spirit-mediums working near the town of Gulu as a minor
oracleAn oracle is a person or agency considered to be a source of wise counsel or prophetic opinion. It may also be a revealed prediction or precognition of the future, from deities, that is spoken through another object or life-form ....
and spiritual healer. In the midst of the chaos of the anti-NRA insurgency of the
Uganda People's Democratic ArmyThe Uganda People's Democratic Army was a rebel group operating in northern Uganda from March 1986 to June 1988.In January, 1986, the government of Ugandan President Tito Okello was overthrown by the rebel National Resistance Army under the command of Yoweri Museveni, which took the capital city...
and the increasingly brutal counterinsurgency of the
National Resistance ArmyThe National Resistance Army , the military wing of the National Resistance Movement , was a rebel army that waged a guerrilla war, commonly referred to as the Luwero War or "the war in the bush", against the government of Milton Obote, and later that of Tito Okello.NRA was formed in 1981 when...
, it is claimed that on 6 August 1986 Lakwena ordered Alice to stop her work as a diviner and healer, which was pointless in the midst of war, and create a
Holy Spirit MovementThe Holy Spirit Movement was the Ugandan rebel group led by Alice Auma, a spirit-medium who claimed to receive direction from the spirit Lakwena. Alice, an ethnic Acholi, was purportedly directed to form the HSM by Lakwena in August 1986...
(HSM) to fight evil and end the bloodshed. Through this divine mission that coincidentally required the retaking of the capital of
KampalaKampala is the largest city and capital of Uganda. The city is divided into five boroughs that oversee local planning: Kampala Central, Kawempe Division, Makindye Division, Nakawa Division and Lubaga Division...
, the Acholi would redeem themselves from the violence they had collectively done to the civilians of the
Luwero triangleThe Luwero triangle is an area of Uganda to the north of the capital Kampala, corresponding to some degree with the district of Luwero. It is commonly used to refer to an area renowned for the persecution of civilians during the "bush war" between the rebel National Resistance Army and the...
and initiate a paradise on earth. An explanation was given in a letter given to local missionaries:
The good Lord who had sent the Lakwena decided to change his work from that of a doctor to that of a military commander for one simple reason: it is useless to cure a man today only that he be killed the next. So it became an obligation on his part to stop the bloodshed before continuing his work as a doctor.
This came in the midst of a perceived local spiritual crisis that coincided with the threat posed by the occupying southern forces. The increased level of societal tension and number of deaths was attributed to witchcraft. Simultaneously, the soldiers fleeing back into Acholi from the defeat at
KampalaKampala is the largest city and capital of Uganda. The city is divided into five boroughs that oversee local planning: Kampala Central, Kawempe Division, Makindye Division, Nakawa Division and Lubaga Division...
often refused traditional purification ceremonies that were said to protect the community from the vengeful spirits of the people they had killed, and the elders found that they no longer had the authority to force compliance.
Alice Auma claimed that the possessing spirit Lakwena required that Alice be possessed by numerous other spirits to achieve its aims, which was unusual in the context of Acholi spirit-behavior. After a series of spectacular victories, Alice led the
Holy Spirit MovementThe Holy Spirit Movement was the Ugandan rebel group led by Alice Auma, a spirit-medium who claimed to receive direction from the spirit Lakwena. Alice, an ethnic Acholi, was purportedly directed to form the HSM by Lakwena in August 1986...
south out of
Acholiland towards Kampala, where she garnered much support from other ethnic groups that had grievances with the
MuseveniYoweri Kaguta Museveni has been the President of Uganda since 29 January 1986.Museveni was involved in a war that deposed Idi Amin, ending his rule in 1979, and in the rebellion that subsequently led to the demise of the Milton Obote regime in 1985...
government. However, subsequent military setbacks suffered by the HSM prompted some followers to accuse Alice of being a witch using spirits for destructive ends. As the HSM suffered its final defeat under withering
artilleryArtillery is a military combat Arm that employs weapons capable of discharging large projectiles in combat. They are generally capable of adding considerable fire power to the military capability of an armed force...
fire in the forests near
KampalaKampala is the largest city and capital of Uganda. The city is divided into five boroughs that oversee local planning: Kampala Central, Kawempe Division, Makindye Division, Nakawa Division and Lubaga Division...
, Alice fled, and claimed Lakwena had left her.
Alice Auma lived in the Ifo
refugeeUnder the United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, a refugee is a person who owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted on account of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion, is outside the country of their nationality,...
camp near
DadaabDadaab is a town in northeastern Kenya approximately 100 kilometers from Kenya-Somali border. It hosts mostly-Somali refugees from Kenya's northern neighbors. Most of Dadaab's local population is made up of nomadic camel and goat herders. Much of the rest of the town's economy is based on services...
in northern Kenya for the remainder of her life, and claimed to have been abandoned by the spirits. In November 2004 she was implicated in child trafficking from Gulu to the refugee camp. In 2006 she claimed to have discovered a cure for
HIVHuman immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which the immune system begins to fail, leading to life-threatening opportunistic infections. Infection with HIV occurs by the transfer of blood, semen, vaginal fluid,...
/
AIDSAcquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus ....
. Auma died on 17 January 2007, after being sick for about a week with an unknown illness.
The Tale of Paraa
While Alice’s practice as a medium immediately after returning to Gulu does not seem to have been particularly successful, the tale of Paraa became the central text of the
Holy Spirit MovementThe Holy Spirit Movement was the Ugandan rebel group led by Alice Auma, a spirit-medium who claimed to receive direction from the spirit Lakwena. Alice, an ethnic Acholi, was purportedly directed to form the HSM by Lakwena in August 1986...
, in particular in the discourse about the
insurgencyAn insurgency is an armed rebellion against a constituted authority when those taking part in the rebellion are not recognised as belligerents.[Oxford English Dictionary second edition 1989 "insurgent B. n...]
being a rebellion of nature itself, and deserves explication. According to the story, Lakwena first held court with all the animals of the park on the theme of the ongoing war in the south and destruction of the environment by warring parties:
Lakwena said to the animals: ‘You animals, God sent me to ask you whether you bear responsibility for the bloodshed in Uganda.’ The animals denied blame, and the buffaloThe African Buffalo, Affalo or Cape Buffalo is a large African bovid. It is up to 1.7 meters high, 3.4 meters long. Savannah type buffaloes weigh 500-900 kg, with only males, normally larger than females, reaching the upper weight range...
displayed a wound on his leg, and the hippopotamusThe hippopotamus or hippo is a large, mostly plant-eating mammal in sub-Saharan Africa, and one of only two extant species in the family Hippopotamidae...
displayed a wound on his arm.
Lakwena then questioned the water about the war:
Lakwena said to the waterfall: ‘Water, I am coming to ask you about the sinSin is a term used mainly in a religious context to describe an act that violates a moral rule, or the state of having committed such a violation. Commonly, the moral code of conduct is decreed by a divine entity, i.e...
s and bloodshed in this world.’ And the water said: ‘The people with two legs kill their brothers and throw their bodies into the water.’ The spirit asked the water what it did with the sinSin is a term used mainly in a religious context to describe an act that violates a moral rule, or the state of having committed such a violation. Commonly, the moral code of conduct is decreed by a divine entity, i.e...
ners, and the water said: ‘I fight against the sinners, for they are the ones to blame for the bloodshed. Go and fight against the sinners, because they throw their brothers into the water.
After briefly returning home, Lakwena led Alice to Mount Kilak, which greeted their arrival with large explosions, to deal with the issue of witchcraft:
The spirit Lakwena said to the mountain or to the rock: ‘God has sent me to find out why there is theft in the world.’ The mountain answered: ‘I have gone nowhere and have stolen no one’s children. But people come here to me and name the names of those whom I should kill [by casting spells]. Some ask me for medicine [to bewitch]. This is the sin of the people. I want to give you water to heal diseases. But you must fight against the sinners.
In the climax to the story,
GodGod is a deity in theistic and deistic religions and other belief systems, representing either the sole deity in monotheism, or a principal deity in polytheism....
Himself specifies who is to blame for all of the suffering and bloodshed:
God said that there was a tribe in Uganda that was hated everywhere. This tribe was the Acholi. And God ordered that a lamb be offered, so that they should repent their sins and to put an end to the bloodshed in Acholi.
External links