Word: lenshina
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...proved himself one of Africa's most responsible leaders. No stem-winding demagogue, he speaks quietly, seldom utters a harsh word, yet holds almost magical sway over his people. Last year he broke the back of an uprising by the fanatical Lumpa sect of High Priestess Alice Lenshina simply by broadcasting a nationwide appeal for calm...
Even Alice Lenshina had grown alarmed at the wave of slaughter provoked by her fanatic followers. So Alice, the plump black matron who can issue her spearsmen "passports to heaven" and turn enemy bullets to water, did what any fugitive, illiterate, resurrected high priestess might be expected to do. She got in touch with her lawyer...
...notified Charles Stacey, a white attorney practicing in Ndola, that she was ready to give herself up -if the government guaranteed her fair treatment. Delighted, Stacey immediately won Prime Minister Kenneth Kaunda's consent. One afternoon last week, in a remote mud-hut hideout in the north, Alice Lenshina said farewell to 200 hymn-singing tribesmen, climbed into a Land Rover, and with Stacey at her side, was driven off to jail...
...relieved Kaunda broke into a parliamentary debate to announce the news, and promptly adjourned the session so that his ministers could depart for the stricken countryside to spread word of Lenshina's surrender. In addition, radio stations throughout the land began broadcasting a tape-recorded message from Alice. Composed with her lawyer's aid, it pleaded, "You sons of God, listen to what I have to say. The government and I want to settle our troubles peacefully. I order all our people to return to their villages and not attack anybody. When you have received this message...
...followers sacked 19 towns in an orgy of looting and slaughter. When dawn came, 75 lay dead behind them, 1,200 were homeless. Stunned by the massacre, Prime Minister Kaunda ordered a full-scale offensive against the fanatics, who were now outlawed by official decree. "I want Alice Lenshina dead or alive!" he cried, waving a black kerchief to a mourning throng. Next day government troops attacked two Lenshina strongholds, killing 81 hostile warriors. But of Alice there was no trace...