Ugandan rebel defectors say deputy LRA leader is dead – report
November 21, 2007 (KAMPALA) — Once again, unconfirmed reports say that the deputy chief of the Ugandan rebel Lord Resistance Army is killed by the leader of the northern Uganda rebellion.
According the Kampala based New Vision, three defected LRA fighters have confirmed that deputy LRA commander Vincent Otti is killed on instructions of LRA leader Joseph Kony at 10:00am on October 2, together with many others.
They named other commanders killed as Ben Accelam, Otim ‘Record’ and Swaib Adjumani. The three, who have contacted the UN mission in Congo in the past days with a view to surrender, said their group had fled after the killings.
Last week rebel spokesman denied the killing of Otti saying Vincent is alive but he is under house arrest in eastern Congo. The rebel delegation in the southern Sudan brokered peace talks said that Otti had been accused of misconduct and is under investigation. If cleared he would be released and resume his job.
However, A Ugandan army spokesman, Lt. Chris Magezi, told The Associated Press last week that intelligence reports and tips from the rebel’s former operations commander, Opio Makasii, who defected in November, indicated that Kony had killed Otti. Kony is known for purges, and Magezi said he reportedly accused Otti “of collaborating with LRA’s enemies.”
The defectors told the New Vision that Otti was executed by Abudema, the commander who also killed Kony’s former deputy, Otti Lagony, in December 1999.
The defected fighters, whom Kony said he had discharged, are currently waiting at the Congo-Sudan border for reassurances regarding their protection.
They also want assurances that they will be given a presidential pardon, since some of them received amnesty before and later re-joined the rebellion.
“We have reports that a number of LRA want to surrender but we have not yet received them”, confirmed the head of United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo, (MONUC) in Kampala, Olamide Adedeji, who Olamide Adedeji, who returned from eastern Congo last evening.
Unconfirmed reports say that a second group, comprising of about 100 combatants, is heading towards Maridi in South Sudan.
They are expected to surrender to either the Sudanese authorities or the UN peacekeeping force in South Sudan, UNMIS.
(ST)