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.
commander Caesar Achellam in a file photo. Uganda People's Defence Forces said Achellam, a major
general in LRA leader Joseph Kony's outfit of about 200 fighters, had been captured in an ambush on
May 12, 2012. REUTERS/James Akena
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”.