Col Otoa, Obote loyalist and UNLA war logistician dies at 85
Col (Rtd) Tony Otoa. The former UNLA officer passed away on April 28, 2025, at the age of 85. PHOTO/BILL OKETCH
What you need to know:
- Born in 1940, Col Otoa served as a UNLA logistician in charge of the arsenal, responsible for managing the army’s weapons and ammunition.
Col (Rtd) Tony Otoa, a former Uganda National Liberation Army (UNLA) officer who played a key role in supplying weapons to President Milton Obote’s forces during the fight against Yoweri Museveni’s National Resistance Army (NRA) rebels, has died at the age of 85.
Col Otoa, who also served as the head of the Abwor Clan (Awitong), passed away on Monday afternoon, April 28 at his home in Boke Cell, Lira City East Division, Lira City.
Mr Patrick Okwir, spokesperson for the Lango Cultural Institution, confirmed that the retired soldier fell ill on Sunday and sought medical attention at Avento Specialist Medical Centre in Lira City. He was placed on medication and advised to return home.
“However, by Monday midday, he became critically ill, vomited, went to rest, and was later found dead at his home,” Mr Okwir said.
Born in 1940, Col Otoa served as a UNLA logistician in charge of the arsenal, responsible for managing the army’s weapons and ammunition.
When the disputed December 1980 general election ushered Obote back into power, Col Otoa was away in Tanzania, having escorted 23 young officers for training.
Speaking to this reporter in a previous interview, Col Otoa said: “It was, of course, true that that election was massively rigged. I got reports that in West Nile, anybody who was not supporting the UPC (Uganda People’s Congress) party could be stopped on the nomination day at roadblocks on the pretext that there was danger ahead until the nomination period was over.”
He noted that this allowed many UPC candidates to go through unopposed. “Rightly, Yoweri Museveni, who has now ruled Uganda for almost four decades, complained that the 1980 poll was rigged.”
The election, held on December 10–11, 1980, was conducted by the Paulo Muwanga-led Military Commission and featured candidates from Obote’s UPC, Museveni’s Uganda Patriotic Movement (UPM), and Paul Kawanga Ssemogerere’s Democratic Party (DP).
In protest, Museveni and 27 fighters launched a guerrilla war that would culminate in the 1986 NRA takeover.
Col Otoa returned to Uganda in 1981, shortly before being sent to Britain for an eight-month training in logistics at the Army School of Ammunitions. He returned in 1982, when the conflict had intensified, and was posted to Magamaga Ordnance Depot to oversee military weapons and supplies.
However, internal divisions along tribal lines—particularly between Acholi and Langi officers—began to fracture the UNLA’s command structure.
Otoa recalled: “Maj Okwera, for example, surrendered the Fort Portal battalion to Museveni. Unfortunately, when he was returning to the north, he was killed at Karuma by Lieutenant Oola, an Acholi, who mistook him for Col John Ogole, a Langi and Obote associate.”
Otoa said: “Capt Nicholas Agwa wanted to return to check on the situation at Karuma. When Oola saw Agwa, he said, ‘Agwa, I have killed my brother, I’m also killing you.’ That is how Capt Agwa met his death—because Oola felt so sorry for killing his own tribe mate.”
He added that Acholi soldiers believed surrendering might win Museveni’s favor. “But it didn’t work out. Museveni had his own agenda, and that’s why their peace talks failed. He continued until he overthrew them.”
Following Museveni’s seizure of power on January 26, 1986, many UNLA officers were rounded up or fled. Col Otoa escaped to Kenya the same day and joined Dr Obote and other UNLA exiles, including Brig Smith Opon Acak. Weeks later, they moved to Zambia.
Dr Obote eventually sent Otoa back to Kenya to link up with fighters regrouping in northern Uganda. He met Col Owiny and former MP Bosco Oryem in Nairobi.
“Dr Obote had told me, ‘You go and join our friends in the north because this war will be a war of genocide; we must protect our people. When Museveni goes to the north, he’s going to kill everybody.’”
Otoa, however, became suspicious. “First and foremost, the rumour before the overthrow was that Langi officers and men were plotting to eliminate all the Acholi soldiers. Now, I thought, how do I go and join these people? And what would the morale be of those who saw us flee?”
He continued: “I said I couldn’t—in a meeting we had in a national park in Nairobi. We had come with the late Maj Olwol, Maj Opor, and Brig Orwothwo. My reason was: first, these people were in disarray—how do you begin to organise soldiers who are in disarray?”
Col Otoa’s legacy is deeply tied to the struggles and transitions of Uganda’s post-independence military and political history. He was among those who foresaw the political marginalisation and military defeats of Obote loyalists and remained a committed voice for northern Uganda’s security and representation.
