Vincent Ottis: The life and death of a LRA strong man

On March 5, “Invisible Children,” an organization dedicated to “galvanizing international support to bring a permanent end to LRA violence” released a now highly popular video called “KONY 2012.” This has received roughly 80 million views to date. The video, advocating a man hunt backed by the might of American public opinion and military hardware for Joseph Kony, the military, spiritual, and political leader of the LRA, has brought the discussion of security in Central Africa to social conscience and Kony, who has in less than a month not only become a household name but has, in the same amount of time, given even the Bogyman a run for his money in near mythic notoriety. So while everyone now knows the name Joseph Kony, the question begs answering: Who is Kony’s number two?

The answer to that question, at the moment is unclear, but it is clear that Vincent Otti was executed by a firing squad in 2007–ordered by the very man who saw him as a brother: Joseph Kony.

Vincent Otti’s life is a very interesting one. He was born on 1946 in the backwaters of the sub county of the Gulu District, where many of the top LRA leaders come from. Orphaned at an early age, Otti spent much of his life as an affluent shopkeeper in Kampala, until he joined the LRA during its formation in 1987. Kampala was then formed to battle the racist and corrupt Ugandan government. Otti’s long affiliation and dedication to the LRA’s has made him one of the few members of the groups so called “control guard,” or the group of the primary leaders and beneficiaries of the LRA’s continued 25+ year insurgency.

Nonetheless, Otti is a very confusing person. One minute, he makes a video to send out to the people of the region he is terrorizing, begging for support, while next he is leading bloody charges into their villages, destroying their homes, abducting their kids, killing the men, and raping the women, like in the infamous Balonyo massacre in February 2004. This massacre was planned and executed (no pun intended) by Otti personally, and resulted in the gruesome deaths of over 300 villagers. In fact, in 1994, he even attacked his own home town, where his parents and family still lived, killing some villagers and abducting scores of children, some the children of his childhood friends.

Towards the end of his life, for some unknown reason, Otti apparently started to talk seriously with Kony on the idea of peace. Not just a break for rearming, but a real, long-lasting peace. For Kony, however, this idea was out of the question. On October 2, 2007, Otti approached Kony’s house in Uganda as he did every day. When he got there, he found himself surrounded by armed guards. After calling Kony on the phone to discuss the less than happy greeting, he was told not to worry by Kony himself. Upon entering the house, he was bound, gagged, and executed, much like his victims, begging for mercy.

“I think this is very ironic,” said Urbana High School Sophomore Alisa Evans. “This man killed so many people in the same way. It just sort of leaves one to wonder as to who this man really thought he was.”

In a sense, Otti’s life and death best epitomizes the split between the new and the old LRA. Otti was the last of the true “control guard,” and was the last, as to our knowledge to ever seriously talk about peace.

As of now, there appears to be no number two, only Kony and his vain, bloody madness. Also, there have been no peace talks with any government, Ugandan or otherwise, since Otti’s death.

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Benjamin Ross

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