APA-Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) The government in Addis Ababa has repatriated 80 Ugandans who had fled their homes to Ethiopia over ‘doomsday’ fears.
Back in March, the Ugandan nationals belonging to a religious cult in eastern Uganda crossed to Ethiopia, believing that they would meet with Jesus Christ in the eastern African nation.
The Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Monday said the government repatriated 80 Ugandans who were fleeced of their money with a promise to meet Jesus.
The leader of the cult , Pastor Simon Opolot told Ethiopian authorotties that duping believers attached to Christ Disciples Church in Soroti, Eastern Uganda to sell their property and prepare to meet Jesus.
Opolot was quoted as saying that he had received a vision that Jesus was going to pick a few people to go to heaven and that those to be chosen had to be in Ethiopia.
Ugandan Internal Affairs ministry spokesperson, Simon Peter Mundeyi was quoted by the Ugandan based media as saying that when the group arrived in Ethiopia, they revealed that they were there to meet Jesus on a journey to heaven.
Mundeyi explains that Ethiopian authorities then decided to gather all the people who were arriving in separate groups, confined them in one place, and later contacted their Ugandan counterparts who processed documentation for the repatriation.
“The returnees have said pastor Opolot convinced them to fast for 40 days so that they can meet Jesus on the 41st day. The condition was that to meet Jesus, they needed to be in Ethiopia, and according to him, the world would immediately end,” Mundeyi said.
MG/abj/APA