Uganda captures Lord’s Resistance Army commander

By Justin

Dralaze

RIVER VOVODO, Central African Republic (Reuters) – U ganda has captured one of the top

five members of the Lord’s Resistance Army, bringing it a step closer to catching Joseph Kony, the

notorious rebel leader accused of war crimes, the military said on Sunday.

The Ugandan army

said it caught Caesar Achellam, a major general in Kony’s outfit of about 200 fighters, in an ambush

along the banks of the River Mbou in Central African Republic (CAR) on Saturday.

Achellam was

armed with just an AK-47 rifle and eight rounds of ammunition, a spokesman for the Uganda People’s

Defence Force (UPDF), said. He was being held with his wife, a young daughter and a helper.

The

UPDF, which has a force hunting for Kony full-time in the jungles of CAR, backed by U.S. troops, said

the capture of Achellam would encourage other fighters to abandon the LRA.

“The arrest of Major

General Caesar Achellam is big progress because he is a big fish,” said UPDF spokesman Felix Kulaigye.

“His capture is definitely going to cause an opinion shift within the LRA.”

Achellam, who was

paraded before media, walked with a limp, which he attributed to an old wound. He was returning from

the Democratic Republic of Congo when he walked into the soldiers’ ambush. UPDF said it had been on

his trail for a month.

Analysts said Achellam was a close ally of Kony and had masterminded the

group’s relocation from northern Uganda.

“From whichever angle you look at it, the loss of

Achellam should be very troubling for Kony and a big boost for his manhunt,” said Angelo Izama, an

analyst who has written extensively on the LRA.

Kony, a self-styled mystic leader who at one

time wanted to rule Uganda according to the biblical Ten Commandments, fled northern Uganda in 2005,

roaming first the lawless expanses of South Sudan, then the isolated northeastern tip of

Congo.

In December 2008, Uganda launched Operation Lightning Thunder against the LRA, dispersing

the rebels and pushing them north into CAR.

The rebels live in the jungles of CAR surviving on

wild yams, stolen cattle and drinking from rivers.

The International Criminal Court at The Hague

has issued arrest warrants for Kony and his top commanders for several counts of crimes against

humanity and war crimes, although Achellam is not among those charged by the ICC.

Kony is

accused of abducting children to use as fighters and sex slaves and is said to have a fondness for

hacking off limbs.

A 30-minute YouTube video by California-based film-maker Jason Russell

calling for the arrest of Kony swept across the Internet in March, attracting tens of millions of

views, bringing the LRA’s atrocities to the attention of many people previously unaware of the

group’s existence.

The Ugandan government, the African Union and the United States all stepped

up their commitment to the hunt for Kony in the wake of the outrage caused by the video, “Kony

2012”.