Vincent Otti

Vincent Otti (2 or 8 October 2007) was a Ugandan militant who served as deputy-leader of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), a rebel guerrilla army operating mainly in northern Uganda and South Sudan. He was one of the five persons for whom the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued its first arrest warrants on 8 July 2005 in its investigation in Uganda. Rumours of his death began to circulate in October 2007 and strengthened in January 2008. On 17 November 2023, the ICC terminated proceedings against him, confirming his death.

Early life Otti was born around 1946 in the Atiak sub-county of Gulu District, Uganda, and his parents died when he was young. He was working as a shopkeeper in Kampala when he joined the Lord's Resistance Army in 1987.

Lord's Resistance Army

Vincent Otti joined the Lord's Resistance Army when it was founded in 1987. He was charged with 21 counts of war crimes (including murder, pillaging, inducing rape, forced enlisting of children, intentionally directing an attack against a civilian population, and cruel treatment of civilians) and 11 counts of crimes against humanity (including murder, sexual enslavement, and inhumane acts of inflicting serious bodily injury and suffering). LRA defector Sunday Otto, who claims to have been present during the execution, states that Otti was killed on 2 October, along with two other officers, and that Otti was the impetus behind the negotiations for peace, a view that is supported by the late conservationist Lawrence Anthony in his book The Last Rhinos (2012). Anthony writes that a few days before Otti was killed, Anthony had visited Otti in the bush to firm up an agreement that Anthony would help communicate the LRA's case at the 2005 round of peace talks, in exchange for the LRA's protection of endangered rhino species in the Congo. LRA spokesperson Martin Ojul has repeatedly denied that Otti was executed and claimed that Otti was simply suffering from cholera. On 7 November 2007, Kony told Gulu district chairman Norbert Mao that Otti was alive and had been detained for plotting to kill Kony and "conspiring with the enemies of the LRA". The government of Southern Sudan has sent a team to the Congolese border to investigate Otti's fate. Defectors also claimed Otti had been killed because of his enthusiasm for peace, thus raising questions about Kony's commitment to the peace negotiations. On 21 December 2007 a diplomatic briefing claimed that Otti was executed on 2 October 2007 at Kony's home. According to this account, when Otti arrived there he found that the home was surrounded by Kony's guards, and before entering he made a phone call to Kony due to his concern about this, but was reassured by Kony. Inside the house, however, LRA commanders held Otti at gunpoint and told him that he was arrested; he was then bound, blindfolded and taken outside, where he was shot, despite his pleas for mercy. Kony subsequently claimed that Otti had received foreign funds and was trying to kill him. On 23 January 2008, Kony stated that Otti was dead, without giving details.

On 17 November 2023, the ICC terminated proceedings against him, with the prosecutor stating “all available evidence indicates that Mr Otti was killed in a remote area of the Democratic Republic of Congo in October 2007."

Notes and references