excommunicated Roman Catholic priests: Joseph Kibweteere, Joseph Kasapurari, John Kamagara and Dominic Kataribabo

two excommunicated Roman Catholic nuns

Credonia Mwerinde, an ex-prostitute

The group is located in southwest Uganda -- one of the most unstable areas of the world.

conflicting reports say they were either founded in 1989 or 1994

their school was shut down in 1998 for unsanitary conditions.

Medical care was discouraged.

Members rarely spoke. They use mostly gestures to communicate, out of fear of breaking the ninth commandment

When the end of the world did not occur on 1999-DEC-31, some members of the sect demanded their money and possessions back.

they can not be sure if it was a mass suicide or murder

About 530 members died in an intentionally-set fire that gutted their church in Kanungu, Uganda on Friday, 2000-MAR-17. The dead included at least 78 children. The precise number of the dead will never be known.

the windows and doors of the church were nailed shut from the inside

The discoveries of many hundreds of murder victims at other locations point towards mass murder

Leader Kibwetere appears to have planned the tragedy in advance. He allegedly sent a letter to his wife before the tragedy, encouraging her to continue the religion "because the members of the cult were going to perish the next day.''

Traditional belief also very strongly forbids suicide