Top Joseph Kony commander captured in Uganda after jungle battle

KAMPALA, Uganda — Ugandan forces captured a senior commander of Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army after a brief fight with rebels near the Congo-Central African Republic border, an army official said Sunday, in what an analyst said was an “intelligence coup” for forces hunting for Kony.



Lt. Col. Abdul Rugumayo, intelligence chief for Uganda’s military operation against the LRA, said Caesar Acellam was captured Saturday with two other rebel fighters as they tried to cross a river called Mbomu.


Although Acellam is not one of the LRA commanders indicted along with Kony in 2005 by the International Criminal Court, Ugandan officials say he was one of Kony’s top military strategists and a reliable fighter.


“He is in good condition,” Rugumayo said of Acellam. “He was captured with two other rebels. They were in a group of 30 rebels.”


He said the others escaped.