Big catch in joint hunt for LRA chiefs

The capture of a top Lord’s Resistance Army field commander at the weekend is a milestone that could signal they are closing in on notorious rebel leader Joseph Kony.

News of the capture of Maj-Gen Caesar Acellam by Ugandan army, must be a heart-break to Kony, since he is likely to spill the beans regarding the insurgent group’s formation, recruitment and operation plan, as well as the whereabouts of its senior commanders that the Uganda Peoples Defence Force (UPDF) troops are hunting down in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Central Africa Republic  jungles.

More defection

Analysts say the taking of Maj-Gen Acellam, LRA’s de facto “Number Four” into custody is likely to weaken Kony’s hand over his fighters, encourage more defections and buoy the regional manhunt for the fugitives who spread their terror simultaneously in three countries.

The UPDF is leading a force of regional armies including South Sudan, DRC and CAR forces, who have been working together since the launch of Operation Lightning Thunder in December 2008,  to capture LRA leader Joseph Kony.

President Barack Obama last October authorised deployment of about 100 US Special Forces to collate intelligence using high-tech equipment, and act as field military advisers to the regional armies, to effect the elimination of the LRA.

Maj-Gen Acellam, who once held the intelligence brief for the notorious rebel outfit was incidentally not one of the top five LRA commanders, including Kony, who, although they remain at large, were indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) that issued warrants of arrest in 2005.

Nevertheless, the Ugandan military described Maj-Gen Acellam, as a “big catch” and the highest ranking LRA commander to be held since 1987.

According to Col Abdu Rugumayo, the UPDF Intelligence Officer in charge of the counter-LRA operation, Acellam was arrested on the banks of River Mbou in Central African Republic as he crossed with his family from the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Ugandan military officials prevented journalists from probing Acellam on grounds they would unravel information likely to undermine the ongoing regional effort to rout Kony, but the capture is already generating debate on whether the rebel commander surrendered or was captured in battle.

Maj-Gen Acellam was arrested with his wife Gladys Adongo, 21, their one-year-old baby and a house maid.

Analysts point out it would be strange, in fact suicidal, for such an experienced rebel field commander to walk through an expansive jungle unguarded and only with his family of four, well aware that international troops are on his chase.

But the Ugandan military officers are adamant that they waited for him on target for two weeks, like a cat timing a mouse, and finally captured him.

“Our forces had been in that ambush for a fortnight; there was something we wanted and we have finally got it,” said Col. Rugumayo, unable to hide his satisfaction with Acellam’s capture.

Another Ugandan military commander, who has been involved in operations against the LRA in Sudan but is not part of the current effort told the Nation in a separate interview on Sunday, that the top LRA commanders moved in such a pattern to avoid being tracked.

“Even Kony can move a whole month only with a few escorts and his family. That makes it very difficult to track him down,” the commander, who could not be quoted on the record because of the military standing orders, said.

But Col Rugumayo said there was a brief skirmish, even as he made no mention of any injuries or deaths on either side. The LRA commander was curiously trekking unguarded.

He would later tell journalists that he had left his escorts, about 30, behind in the DRC. They planned to cross to CAR later, he said.

Maj-Gen Acellam was a confidant of Vincent Otti, then a deputy LRA commander whom Kony ordered executed in October, 2007.

Both Otti and Maj-Gen Acellam reportedly favoured the Juba peace talks. On the other hand, Kony, who initially warmed to the dialogue, assigned a team to represent him at the South Sudan capital, and later became distrustful of his emissaries whom he accused of turning money-makers.

The disagreement, according to insiders, boiled up at the LRA lairs with Kony accusing Otti of taking money from Uganda government to cause mass defections. In the end, he ordered his execution.

The LRA fighters captured in previous UPDF raids said Otti was tied to a tree and shot multiple times, and the body remained unburied for three days ostensibly to strengthen the spirit of the mystical LRA head, Joseph Kony.

Maj-Gen Acellam tried to escape, but Kony kept a close watch through intensified surveillance to restrain him.

He, therefore, never got the chance to surrender, a senior government official, who was deeply involved in the Juba negotiations, told this newspaper.

Maj-Gen Acellam, still fearing he could be eliminated, is said to have telephoned an influential businessman in the northern Uganda town of Gulu, alleged to have had direct links with Kony, to intervene.

Not much is known about what happened thereafter. Eventually, Maj-Gen Acellam made up with Kony who assigned him as LRA field commander.

Col Rugumayo insisted the implementer of the rebels’ plans sauntered into the ambush, with his family of four. Other security analysts say Maj-Gen Acellam moved lean probably to escape detection.

Unnamed housemaid

The unnamed housemaid was left in Djema as the UPDF airlifted Maj-Gen Acellam, his wife and child, to their operational base in Nzara, South Sudan.

The rebel commander said there is a lot of wild food in the jungles that starvation is not a threat for LRA fighters. Such edibles include wild yams that UPDF soldiers however, spat out when they tried a taste.

Another revelation that Maj-Gen Acellam made is that leaflets dropped by regional armies, urging rebel fighters to defect, are usually picked up or seized by senior commanders. Thus the information on surrender does not reach the bulk of the targeted fighters.