Bishop Baptises Children on Kony's Mystic Hills

1508 Views Gulu, Uganda

In short
Gulu Anglican bishop Johnson Gakumba on Sunday climbed Awere Hills and baptized four children as a way of demystifying Joseph Konyâ€™s alleged spiritual powers.

Four Children were on Sunday baptised atop Kony's mystic hills in Awere in Gulu district, in a move intended to demystify the LRA rebel leader Joseph Kony's spiritual power.

The children were baptised by the Anglican bishop of Gulu Johnson Gakumba.
The Lord’s Resistance Army rebel leader turned  Awere Hills, located about 60km south-east of Gulu town along the Gulu-Moroto Road, an epicenter of his two-decade brutal war.
He reportedly received instructions to start the war while atop the rock on the hills and he frequently visited the area to allegedly speak to his spirits on how to defeat the government forces and sustain the war.

The LRA rebel leader, who hails from Odek village just a few meters from the Awere Hills, was also reportedly using the place for treating his fighters using water and herbs from the hills.
But Bishop Gakumba on Sunday baptized four children- Jonhson Ouma,  Geoffrey Kinyera,  Francis Watmon, and Eunice Lakot on top of the hills, in what he said was a sign that the hills are no longer a source of fear and suffering.
Quoting from the Bible, the bishop said  the rock is God’s creation and He has given full authority for human beings to benefit from it.

George Aligech Lapir, a resident of the area says that no one believed that the hills had some supernatural powers but they became famous when Kony launched his rebellion from the area in 1987. Lapir says apart from the Eastern side having a lion and foot marks, there is nothing peculiar about the 100m tall hills.

The top of the hills was left unattended throughout the two-decade war until late in 2009, when it became clear that Kony would not come back to the area to consult his supposed mediums.

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