Escaped rebel commanders confirm brutal death of LRA's Vincent Otti

The New Vision reports that three defected LRA fighters have said that deputy LRA commander Vincent Otti is dead. Senior-level rebel commanders Otto Sunday, Richard Okema and Odong-kau, calling from their hide-out in Congo, said the second-in-command was 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 (estimated by the UPDF as 300) had fled after the killings. They described the way Otti was murdered as "too horrific to discuss on phone." The commanders, they said, were killed by firing squad and their bodies were left unburied for three days "to strengthen Kony’s spirit." Some analysts believe the rebel group may be disintegrating, though Kony still retains a not insignificant force. Moreover, we cannot ignore that the people of northern Uganda today face a multitude of security threats that have developed beyond the rebel group.