Alice Auma

Alice Auma (1956 – 17 January 2007) was an Acholi spirit-medium who, as the head of the Holy Spirit Movement (HSM), led a millennial rebellion against the Ugandan government forces of President Yoweri Museveni from August 1986 until November 1987. The primary spirit she purportedly channelled was that of a dead army officer called "Lakwena", meaning messenger, which the Acholi believe to be a manifestation of the Christian Holy Spirit. The combined persona of Alice Auma channelling the spirit Lakwena is often referred to as "Alice Lakwena".

Auma was born in 1956. Remaining childless after two marriages, she 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. 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.

Before the defeat of Tito Okello, Auma was one of many spirit-mediums working near the town of Gulu as a minor oracle and spiritual healer. She worked in the midst of the chaos of the anti-National Resistance Army (NRA) insurgency of the Uganda People's Democratic Army and the increasingly brutal counterinsurgency 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 Holy Spirit Movement (HSM) to fight evil and end the bloodshed. This divine mission required the retaking of the capital of Kampala. 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:

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