Alice Auma (1956 – 17 January 2007) was a Ugandan spirit-medium who, as the head of the

Holy Spirit Movement The Holy Spirit Movement (HSM) was a Ugandan religiously syncretic Christian militant rebel organization centered upon its founder, self-declared spirit medium and prophetess Alice Lakwena (Auma). Alice, an ethnic Acholi, was purportedly dir ...

(HSM), led a

millennial Millennials, also known as Generation Y or Gen Y, are the demographic cohort following Generation X and preceding Generation Z. Researchers and popular media use the early 1980s as starting birth years and the mid-1990s to early 2000s as ...

rebellion against the Ugandan government forces of President

Yoweri Museveni Yoweri Kaguta Museveni Tibuhaburwa (born 15 September 1944) is a Ugandan politician and Officer (armed forces), military officer who is the ninth and current president of Uganda since 1986. As of 2025, he is the third-List of current state lead ...

from August 1986 until November 1987. The primary spirit she purportedly channelled was that of a dead army officer called "Lakwena", meaning messenger, which those from the

Acholi Acholi may refer to: * Acholi people, a Luo nation of Uganda, in the Northern part of the country. * Acholi language, a Nilotic language * Acholi Inn, a building in Gulu, Uganda * Acholi nationalism, a political ideology of Acholi people {{dab ...

ethnic group believe to be a manifestation of the Christian

Holy Spirit The Holy Spirit, otherwise known as the Holy Ghost, is a concept within the Abrahamic religions. In Judaism, the Holy Spirit is understood as the divine quality or force of God manifesting in the world, particularly in acts of prophecy, creati ...

. The combined persona of Alice Auma channelling the spirit Lakwena is often referred to as "Alice Lakwena". Auma's HSM was ultimately defeated in November 1987 by Ugandan forces led by Yoweri Museveni.

Early life

Alice Auma was born in 1956. She was the daughter of Severino Lukoya, self-proclaimed prophet and founder of the Jerusalem Melter Church in

Gulu Gulu is a city in the Northern Region of Uganda. It is the commercial and administrative centre of Gulu District. The coordinates of the city of Gulu are 2°46'54.0"N 32°17'57.0"E. The city's distance from Kampala, Uganda's capital and large ...

. Leader of the

Lord's Resistance Army The Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) is a Christian extremist organization operating in Central Africa and East Africa. Its origins were in the War in Uganda (1986–1994), Ugandan insurgency (1986–1994) against Yoweri Museveni, during which Jo ...

Joseph Kony Joseph Rao Kony (born September 1961) is a Ugandan militant and warlord who founded the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), designated as a terrorist group by the MONUSCO, United Nations Peacekeepers, the European Union, and various other governments ...

previously claimed that Auma and he were cousins, however, he merely did so in order to garner support from her constituents. Auma herself always distanced herself from Kony and his views.

Biography

Remaining childless after two marriages, Auma moved away from her hometown. She eventually converted to Christianity but, on 25 May 1985, she reportedly went insane, unable to either hear or speak, later claiming to have been possessed by the spirit Lakwena. Her father took her to eleven different witches, but none alleviated her condition. Auma claimed Lakwena then guided her to

Murchison Falls National Park Murchison Falls National Park (MFNP) is a national park in Uganda managed by the Ugandan Wildlife Authority. Located in north-western Uganda, it spreads inland from the shores of Lake Albert around the Victoria Nile up to the Karuma Falls. To ...

, where she disappeared for 40 days and returned a spirit-medium, a traditional ethnic religious role. Before the defeat of

Tito Okello Tito Lutwa Okello (15 October 1914 – 3 June 1996) was a Ugandan military officer and politician who served as the eighth president of Uganda from 29 July 1985 until 26 January 1986. Background Tito Okello was born into an ethnic Acholi fami ...

in the

Ugandan Bush War The Ugandan Bush War was a civil war fought in Uganda by the official Ugandan government and its armed wing, the Uganda National Liberation Army (UNLA), against a number of rebel groups, most importantly the National Resistance Army (NRA), from 19 ...

, Auma was one of many spirit-mediums working near the town of

as a minor

oracle An oracle is a person or thing considered to provide insight, wise counsel or prophetic predictions, most notably including precognition of the future, inspired by deities. If done through occultic means, it is a form of divination. Descript ...

and spiritual healer. She worked in the midst of the chaos of the anti-

National Resistance Army The National Resistance Army (NRA) was a guerilla army and the military wing of the National Resistance Movement (NRM) that fought in the Ugandan Bush War against the government of Milton Obote, and later the government of Tito Okello. NRA wa ...

(NRA)

insurgency An insurgency is a violent, armed rebellion by small, lightly armed bands who practice guerrilla warfare against a larger authority. The key descriptive feature of insurgency is its asymmetric warfare, asymmetric nature: small irregular forces ...

of the

Uganda People's Democratic Army The Uganda People's Democratic Army (UPDA) was a rebel group operating in northern Uganda from March 1986 to June 1988. History In January 1986, the government of Ugandan President Tito Okello was overthrown by the rebel National Resistance Ar ...

and the increasingly brutal counter-insurgency operations and tactics of the NRA. Legend in the later movement holds that on 6 August 1986, Lakwena ordered Auma to stop her work as a diviner and healer, which was pointless in the midst of war, and create a

(HSM) to fight evil and end the bloodshed. This divine mission required the retaking of the capital of

Kampala Kampala (, ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Uganda. The city proper has a population of 1,875,834 (2024) and is divided into the five political divisions of Kampala Central Division, Kampala, Kawempe Division, Kawempe, Makindy ...

. Thus the Acholi would redeem themselves from the violence they had collectively imposed on the civilians of the Luwero triangle, and would initiate a paradise on earth. A letter to local missionaries explained the transition:

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.

Auma claimed that Lakwena required that she be possessed by numerous other spirits to achieve its goals. This was unusual in Acholi spirit-behavior. At this time, there was a perceived spiritual crisis in the area coinciding with the threat posed by soldiers from the NRA-led government. The increased level of societal tension and number of deaths were attributed to witchcraft. After a series of spectacular victories, Auma led the Holy Spirit Movement (HSM) south out of the Acholi heartland of

northern Uganda The Northern Region is one of four regions in Uganda. As of Uganda's 2014 census, the region's population was . Districts As of 2010, the Northern Region had 30 districts A district is a type of administrative division that in some co ...

towards Kampala. There, she garnered much support from other ethnic groups that had grievances with

's government. However, subsequent military setbacks suffered by the HSM prompted some followers to accuse Auma of being a witch and of using spirits for destructive ends. As the HSM suffered its final defeat under

artillery Artillery consists of ranged weapons that launch Ammunition, munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during sieges, and l ...

fire in the forests near Kampala, Auma fled and claimed that Lakwena had left her.

Later life and death

Auma lived in the Ifo

refugee A refugee, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), is a person "forced to flee their own country and seek safety in another country. They are unable to return to their own country because of feared persecution as ...

camp near

Dadaab Dadaab () is a semi-arid town in Garissa County, Kenya. It is the site of a United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, UNHCR base hosting 426,822 registered refugees and asylum seekers as of 28 February 2025, in four refugee camp, camps (Daga ...

in northern

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

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

HIV/AIDS The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...

. Auma died on 17 January 2007, after having been sick for about a week with an unknown illness claimed to be HIV/AIDS.

The Tale of Paraa

Although Auma's practice as a medium immediately after returning to Gulu was not particularly successful, the tale of Paraa became the central text of the HSM. In particular Lakwena's discourse that the

was a rebellion of nature deserves explication. According to the story, Lakwena first held court with all the animals of the park to explore the theme of the ongoing war in the south and the 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
buffalo Buffalo most commonly refers to: * True buffalo or Bubalina, a subtribe of wild cattle, including most "Old World" buffalo, such as water buffalo * Bison, a genus of wild cattle, including the American buffalo * Buffalo, New York, a city in the n ...
displayed a wound on his leg, and the
hippopotamus The hippopotamus (''Hippopotamus amphibius;'' ; : hippopotamuses), often shortened to hippo (: hippos), further qualified as the common hippopotamus, Nile hippopotamus and river hippopotamus, is a large semiaquatic mammal native to sub-Sahar ...
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
sin In religious context, sin is a transgression against divine law or a law of the deities. Each culture has its own interpretation of what it means to commit a sin. While sins are generally considered actions, any thought, word, or act considered ...
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
sin In religious context, sin is a transgression against divine law or a law of the deities. Each culture has its own interpretation of what it means to commit a sin. While sins are generally considered actions, any thought, word, or act considered ...
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 Auma to Mount Kilak to deal with the issue of witchcraft. The mountain greeted their arrival with large explosions:

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 y casting spells Some ask me for medicine o 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, God 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.

Critical reception

In her book ''Alice Lakwena and the Holy Spirits. War in Northern Uganda 1986–97,'' social anthropologist Heike Behrend analyzed the biography of Alice Lakwena and the history of the Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda from anthropological perspectives.

References

External links

"Resistance Army Leader in Kenya after 'Holy War'"
(streaming audio) by Eric Westervelt, ''

National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

s Weekend Edition Saturday, 12 November 2005
"Uganda's mystic rebel leader dies"
''

BBC News Online BBC News Online is the website of BBC News, the division of the BBC responsible for newsgathering and production. It is one of the most popular news websites, with 1.2 billion website visits in April 2021, as well as being used by 60% of the U ...

'', 17 January 2007
Rebel leader was seen as 'spiritual medium'
''Mail & Guardian''
"SOLDIER BOYS" Joseph Kony and the Lord's Resistance Army
Video made in 2000 for CTV (Canada), featuring an interview with Alice Lakwena. {{DEFAULTSORT:Auma, Alice 1956 births 2007 deaths 20th-century Christian mystics 21st-century Christian mystics Acholi people African women in war People from Gulu District Protestant mystics Ugandan Christian mystics Ugandan rebels Women in war 1945–1999 African warlords Founders of new religious movements Women mystics Women founders Female religious leaders Acholi women