Who is LRA's Vincent Otti?

Nov 04, 2007

VINCENT Otti is the vice-chairman of the Lord’s Resistance Movement and second-in-command of the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). He played a key role in the on-going negotiations and peace talks between his group and the Government mediated by South Sudan vice-president Riek Machar in Juba.

By Cyprian Musoke

VINCENT Otti is the vice-chairman of the Lord’s Resistance Movement and second-in-command of the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). He played a key role in the on-going negotiations and peace talks between his group and the Government mediated by South Sudan vice-president Riek Machar in Juba.

Born in 1946 in Ibi Noriga, Pacilo parish, Atiak sub-county, Gulu district, Otti is one of the five persons against whom the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued its first warrants of arrest on June 5, 2005 for committing war crimes.

His warrant lists 32 counts of war crime violations since July 2002. These include attacks on civilians, enslavement and enlisting of child soldiers. The other members indicted were Kony, Raska Lukwiya, Okot Odhiambo and Dominic Ongwen.

A dark graying man of medium height, Otti has been with the LRA since its inception in 1987 as a member of the “control altar,” the core leadership group that devises strategies for the group.

On August 4, 2006, “lieutenant general” Vincent Otti declared a ceasefire with the Uganda Peoples Defence Forces (UPDF) on behalf of his commander, Joseph Kony, after the latter reiterated his will to end the war through the Juba talks. The declaration was during a meeting of political, religious and civic leaders from the war-affected areas held in Garamba Forest.

The talks were weakened when Otti and Kony failed to join them in person, calling for the withdrawal of the indictments.
Senior LRA leaders, including Otti, have to-date not directly participated in the talks out of fear of being arrested.
On August 26, 2006, when it was agreed in the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement (CHA) that that the rebels assemble at Owiny Ki-Bul and Ri-Kwangba, Otti said the LRA fighters would not assemble until the ICC dropped its arrest warrants.

Although the Government maintained that the warrants still stand while the negotiations continue, the LRA insisted on their withdrawal if they are to sign any conclusive peace agreement.
LRA chief negotiator Martin Ojul said the rebels had assembled at Ri-Kwangba although it was not mandatory for them to do so, since the CHA did not specify that they gather there.

However, the Government chief negotiator, Ruhakana Rugunda, rubbished the rebels’ claims that their leaders were in Ri-Kwangba. He said they were still in Garamba National Park in northeastern DR Congo.

“The LRA has performed poorly in respecting agreements and assembling at Ri-Kwangba. There is a small group at Ri-Kwangba but a substantial number is in Garamba. Our wish is that they amass as they were supposed to.”

According to observers, Otti had started shifting in approach in contrast to his boss. Otti preferred a more liberal approach as opposed to the more cautious one adopted by Kony.

This marked the beginning of political differences between the two, leading to the in-fighting and culminating into the arrest of Otti by Kony.

LRA’s director of operations Opiyo Makasi, who recently surrendered, said Otti and two other commanders Accelam and Alfred “Record” Otim were arrested by Kony recently.

“The previous night, Kony had sent a message to all his commanders, calling them for a meeting the next morning at his compound, four miles away. From my intelligence, I knew we were going to be arrested. Kony had been organising a group of soldiers without involving me. So the next morning, when Otti and the others were marching to Kony’s place, I went into hiding,” Makasi narrated.

He added that that when he returned from hiding that evening, he learnt that Otti’s house had been emptied, his 33 fighters disarmed and taken to Kony’s house and his wives were being guarded. Asked if Otti was dead, Makasi said he did not know.

“All I know is that the way Otti was taken was unusual. This is not the way a senior commander is arrested. Normally, when you are put under house arrest, you are told not to handle any arms. But your guards are not disarmed.”
Even if Otti was alive, he was now powerless,” Makasi said. “His gun, phone, belongings were taken away from him.”

Asked what the rift between Kony and Otti was about, Makasi admitted that they disagreed over the peace process. “There had been a problem about meeting high-profile people like the (UN humanitarian affairs boss) Jan Egeland, (UN envoy) Joachim Chissano and Ugandan ministers. Kony had not been interested, but Otti insisted on meeting them.”

The other two commanders, Makasi said, were arrested because they hailed from the same village as Otti. “Kony believed they were more loyal to Otti than to him. Since I had often been in their company, I was also targeted.”

Other indicators of Otti’s character were manifested on November 18, 2006, after some LRA delegates to the peace talks shunned shaking President Yoweri Museveni’s hand when he visited South Sudan. Otti regretted the incident and apologised on behalf of the insurgents.
“Diplomatically, I would have shaken his hand. A handshake does nothing. What they did was not good. They should have greeted him.”

Initially operating in northern Uganda and parts of South Sudan, the LRA that has shifted bases to the jungles of DR Congo is seeking to destabilise and overthrow the Government.

In 2002, the Sudanese government reversed its longstanding policy of support for the rebels and began cooperating in efforts to eliminate the group’s sanctuaries.

Despite this declaration, the LRA continued to perpetrate its brutal attacks within Uganda, both in its operational area in the North, as well as on targets in the East.

As the peace process gains momentum and there is increased participation from the LRA leadership, other government leaders from Sudan, Uganda, and the DR Congo are expected to join the talks.
While the LRA leaders believe that coming out of hiding may result in their arrest, Government officials agree that a lasting ceasefire is contingent on the presence and participation from the rebel’s top leaders.

Formed in 1992 in an attempt to unify a resistance movement fractured by the marginalisation of the Uganda Democratic Christian Army, the group promotes a radical form of Christianity, which it wants to make the foundation of a new Government.

The insurgents had sought to achieve these objectives primarily through unbridled brutality. Rape, torture, and murder had become the group’s hallmarks during the years they terrorised the people in the north.

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