The new challenge now was to Festo's heart and conscience as to what his response would be to these exiles.

Festo and Mera courageously trekked up the mountainsides during the night until finally they crossed the border into Rwanda where they received a huge welcome.įesto and Mera then went through to our office in Nairobi which they found flooded with Ugandan exiles and cries for help. This they did through forest tracks leading to the base of the mountains separating Uganda from Rwanda. It was clear that Festo had now become no 1 on Amin's hit list and all the local Christian brethren urged Festo and his wife Mera to flee at once. This infuriated Amin and he ordered the assassination of Luwum in cold blood. In early 1980, Archbishop Janani Luwum (who was also AE's Ugandan chairman), Festo and the other Anglican bishops drew up a very bold document challenging Amin about his behaviour and where he was taking the country. The challenge for Festo and others was to discern at what point Caesar was asking people to render to himself the things that were God's. So the major requirement in Festo, other bishops and the Church as a whole was courage in facing the dictator's threat.Īll of this raised very acutely the assorted issues relating to Church and State, and how long and how far the Church could continue per Romans 13:1, to 'submit to the powers that be'.Ĭlearly Festo could not sanction revolution or attempt to see the dictator overthrown violently, but clearly he and the other bishops had to figure out at what point the Church could no longer sanction submission to state brutality.įesto and his colleagues knew that Jesus had said 'render to Caesar the things that are Caesars and to God the things that are God's' (Mark 12:17). Those who opposed him were ruthlessly assassinated and multitudes 'were disappeared', as locals put it.

He started out looking like a benevolent dictator and Festo and the other bishops sort of tolerated him, but gradually he became more and more brutal and he made life cheaper and cheaper. In the time and reign of Idi Amin in Uganda (1971 – 1979), the challenges to Bishop Festo Kivengere (African Enterprise East African Team Leader and Co-Leader with Michael Cassidy) and the Anglican Church's other bishops were immense and frightening.Īmin became one of the most brutal dictators of the 20th century and an estimated 400,000 people were slaughtered during his reign.

Ugandan monies