Ethiopian authorities have deported eighty members of a Ugandan religious cult that travelled to embark on starvation with the bid to meet Jesus Christ.

They are followers of Church of Christ Disciples from Soroti who travelled to Ethiopia in February after their pastor claimed they would meet Jesus after forty days of fasting, according to The East African.

The spokesperson for Uganda’s Internal Affairs Ministry, Simon Mundeyi said that a joint security team is searching for cult leader, Simon Opolot.

“Working with the Ethiopian government, we were able to process their repatriation and they are all safely in Uganda.

“A joint security and intelligence team has put the religious cult leader, Pastor Simon Opolot, who is a Ugandan, on the wanted list and he will be apprehended,” Mundeyi said.

“The returnees have said Pastor Opolot convinced them to fast for 40 days so that they can meet Jesus on the 41stday,” Mundeyi added.

“The condition was that to meet Jesus, they needed to be in Ethiopia, and according to him, the world would immediately end.”

In Kenya, a similar occurrence happened which led to the deaths of more than fifty followers of Pastor Paul Makenzi of the Good News International Church, who asked members to fast for days to meet Jesus.

Also, in 2000, at least 700 Ugandan members of the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God died after being locked in a church which was then set alight.

In Kenya, Pastor Paul Nthenge Mackenzie is currently in custody, accused of urging people to starve themselves to death. More than 280 bodies have been found in shallow graves in a remote forest. (Vanguard)