BBC: Human sacrifice on increase in Uganda

Remember that Atlantic cover story, Did Christianity Cause the Crash? Well, it looks like you can have the Gospel of Prosperity without the Gospel.

From the BBC:

Witch-doctors reveal extent of child sacrifice in Uganda

By Tim Whewell
BBC News, Uganda A BBC investigation into human sacrifice in Uganda has heard first-hand accounts which suggest ritual killings of children may be more common than authorities have acknowledged.

One witch-doctor led us to his secret shrine and said he had clients who regularly captured children and brought their blood and body parts to be consumed by spirits.

Meanwhile, a former witch-doctor who now campaigns to end child sacrifice confessed for the first time to having murdered about 70 people, including his own son.

The Ugandan government told us that human sacrifice is on the increase, and according to the head of the country's Anti-Human Sacrifice Taskforce the crime is directly linked to rising levels of development and prosperity, and an increasing belief that witchcraft can help people get rich quickly.

At this point, I started wondering if our legs are being pulled by the BBC. Does Uganda really have an official Anti-Human Sacrifice Taskforce?

Or is this like that scene in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas where Hunter S. Thompson (a.k.a., Raoul Duke) and his 300 pound Samoan attorney, Dr. Gonzo, infiltrate the cop convention and horrify a nice Southern district attorney with tales of how us Malibu cops have to "go to the mat" with the bloodthirsty human sacrifice gangs kidnapping teenage girls out of McDonald's drive-thru windows on Pacific Coast Highway? From Terry Gilliam's screenplay:

INT. CASINO BAR - DAY

DUKE sees GONZO at the bar -- talking to a SPORTY LOOKING
COP about 40 whose name tag identifies him as a DISTRICT
ATTORNEY FROM GEORGIA.

                  DUKE
     They're everywhere.  Nobody's safe.
     And sure as hell not in the South.
     They like warm weather... You'd
     never believe it.  In L.A. it's out
     of control.  First it was drugs,
     now it's witchcraft.

                  DA
     Witchcraft?  Shit, you can't mean it!

The BARTENDER cleans his glasses, one ear straining for the
conversation.

                  GONZO
     Read the newspapers.

                  DUKE
     Man, you don't know trouble until
     you have to face down a bunch of
     these addicts gone crazy for human
     sacrifice!

                  DA
     Naw!  That's science fiction stuff!

                  DUKE
     Not where we operate.

                  GONZO
     Hell, in Malibu alone, these
     goddamn Satan worshippers kill six
     or eight people every day.  All
     they want is the blood.  They'll
     take people right off the street if
     they have to.

                  DUKE
     Just the other day we had a case
     where they grabbed a girl right out
     of a McDonald's hamburger stand.
     She was a waitress, about sixteen
     years old... with a lot of people
     watching, too!

The BARTENDER keeps cleaning the same glass -- more and more
furiously.

                  DA
     What happened?  What did they do to
     her?

                  GONZO
     Do?  Jesus Christ, man.  They
     chopped her goddamn head off right
     there in the parking lot!  Then
     they cut all kinds of holes in her
     head and sucked out the blood!

                  DA
     And nobody did anything?

                  DUKE
     What could they do?  The guy that
     took the head was about six-seven,
     and maybe three-hundred pounds.  He
     was packing two Lugers, and the
     others had M-16s.

                  GONZO
     They just ran back out into Death
     Valley -- you know, where Manson
     turned up...

                  DUKE
     Like big lizards. ...

                  DUKE
     They were all veterans.

                  DA
     Veterans?!!!?

Agog with the horrors of the story, the BARTENDER polishes
the glass -- faster and faster...

                  GONZO
     Yeh.  The big guy used to be a
     major in the Marines.

                  DA
     A major!

                  GONZO
     We know where he lives, but we
     can't get near the house.

                  DA
     Naw!  Not a major.

                  GONZO
     He wanted the pineal gland.

                  DA
     Really?

                  GONZO
     That's how he got so big.  When he
     quit the Marines he was just a
     little guy.

                  DUKE
     Usually, it's whole families.
     During the night.  Most of them
     don't even wake up until they feel
     their heads going -- and then, of
     course, it's too late.

The glass smashes in the BARTENDER's hand.

                  DUKE (CONT'D)
     Happens every day. ...

DUKE turns to a WAITRESS with a warm smile.
     Three more rums.  Plenty of ice.
     Maybe a handful of lime chunks.

                  WAITRESS
     Are you guys with the police
     convention upstairs?

                  DA
     We sure are, Miss.

                  WAITRESS
     I thought so.  I never heard that
     kind of talk around here before.
     Jesus Christ!  How do you guys
     stand that kind of work?

                  GONZO
            (grinning)
     We like it.  It's groovy.

The WAITRESS stares -- sickened -- at GONZO.

                  DUKE
     What's wrong with you?  Hell,
     somebody has to do it.

                  DA
            (whacks his fist on
            the bar)
     Hell, I really hate to hear this.
     Because everything that happens in
     California seems to get down our
     way, sooner or later.  Mostly
     Atlanta.  But that was back when
     the goddamn bastards were peaceful.
     All we had to do was to keep 'em
     under surveillance.  They didn't
     roam around much... But now Jesus,
     it seems nobody's safe.

                  GONZO
            (with a conspiratorial
            nod)
     You're going to need to take the
     bull by the horns -- go to the mat
     with this scum.

                         DA
     What do you mean by that?

                  GONZO
     You know what I mean.  We've done
     it before and we can damn well do
     it again!

                  DUKE
     Cut their goddamn heads off.  Every
     one of them.  That's what we're
     doing in California.

                  DA
            (stupefied)
     WHAT?

                  GONZO
     Sure.  It's all on the Q.T., but
     everybody who matters is with us
     all the way down the line.

                  DUKE
     We keep it quiet.  It's not the
     kind of thing you'd want to talk
     about upstairs.  Not with the press
     around. ...

                  DA
     God almighty!
            (muttering in a daze)
     I don't think I should tell my wife
     about this.  She'd never understand.
     You know how women are.

DUKE gives the DA a brotherly slap on the back.

                  DUKE
     Just be thankful your heart is
     young and strong.

DUKE and GONZO leave the stunned DA -- staring into the
swirling ice in drink.

Apparently, however, yes, Uganda, unlike the real Malibu, does have an official taskforce to fight human sacrifice.

From The Guardian, 9/6/09:

Child sacrifice and ritual murders rise in Uganda as famine looms

Uganda has been shocked by a surge in ritualistic murders and human sacrifice, with police struggling to respond and public hysteria mounting at each gruesome discovery.

In 2008 more than 300 cases of murder and disappearances linked to ritual ceremonies were reported to the police with 18 cases making it to the courts. There were also several high-profile arrests of parents and relatives accused of selling children for human sacrifice.

In January this year the Ugandan government appointed a special police taskforce on human sacrifice and announced that 2,000 officers were to receive specialist training in tackling child trafficking with the support of the US government. Since the taskforce was set up there have been 15 more murders linked to human sacrifice with another 200 disappearances, mainly of children and young adults, under investigation.

"This year we have had more occurrences of people attempting to sell their children to witch-doctors as part of ritual ceremonies to guarantee wealth and prosperity," said Moses Binoga, acting commissioner of the anti-human sacrifice and trafficking taskforce.

Both police and NGOs are attributing the surge to a new wave of commercial witch-doctors using mass media to market their services and demand large sums of money to sacrifice humans and animals for people who believe blood will bring great prosperity.