Lusaka, Zambia - Zambia has banned the local branch of Brazil's Universal Church of the Kingdom of God after claims its leaders were satanists, the government said on Wednesday.
"There are reports that two men within the Church had been painted and that the same church was practicing Satanism," Home Affairs Permanent Secretary Peter Mumba said in a statement.
"The revelations at Universal Church have precipitate government to suspend the church operations with immediate effect," Mumba said.
Zambia is by law a Christian nation and the ban came as a surprise to many in the southern African country.
The Universal Church declined to comment on Wednesday. This was the second time the church has been banned in Zambia, following similar action over satanism allegations in 1999, when it was reinstated on appeal.
Dozens of people smashed windows at a newly built Universal Church building in Lusaka last Saturday after allegations that two people who had gone to worship there were forced to undress and then had their bodies painted.
"Naturally all those who want to practice their faith-based activities must do so within the confines of agreed norms and any deliberate departure from such understanding calls for thorough investigations," Mumba said.
The Pentecostal Universal Church, formed in Brazil in 1977 focusing on the needy, is now active in 90 countries including the United States as well as countries in Europe and Asia.
In the same statement, Mumba said the government had banned another Christian sect known as the New Foundation Apostolic Church, which it was also investigating for satanism.
Residents of a poor Lusaka residential district razed an Apostolic Church building on Saturday after accusing officials of practicing satanism and sexually abusing girls.
The Apostolic church rejected the accusations as a malicious campaign by disaffected former members.
Earlier this year, Madagascar banned a local chapter of the Universal Church in a move that angered religious and human rights leaders.