Rebel LRA signal chief surrenders to Ugandan army

Lt. Col. Michael Anywar, the signal director of the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), has surrendered to the Ugandan army in the northern district of Pader,The New Vision newspaper reported on Thursday.

The Uganda People's Defense Forces (UPDF) spokesman based in north, Lt. Paddy Ankunda was quoted as saying on Wednesday that Anywar reported with his escort and two wives at 7:30 p.m. (1630 GMT) on Tuesday at a trading center in Pader district.

"He came from the main rebel group of Kapere, who is now stranded at the border of Gulu and Pader districts. We shall kill him if he does not come out like his colleagues," Ankunda said.

LRA commander Alfred Oweka defected with five fighters and fiveguns to the army at Lacekocot, the spokesman said, adding that another 14 LRA fighters also surrendered in the same district.

He said the UPDF troops hit LRA commander Col. Odhiambo, who was hiding with other commanders on the confluence of rivers Aswa and Ajan in Kitgum district.

He added that the government troops killed seven rebels and captured five men with nine sub-machine guns.

Meanwhile, Ugandan Minister of State for Defense Ruth Namkabirwa said that LRA leader Joseph Kony will soon be captured and prosecuted.

She said the LRA had weakened since most of its top brass had surrendered or killed by the army.

Kony "will be taken to the International Court to answer murdercharges," she added.

The LRA rebels have been fighting an 18-year war to topple the Ugandan government. The rebels have killed tens of thousands of civilians, abducted over 20,000 children as their porters, fighters and sex slaves and displaced over 1.6 million people in the north.

The Ugandan government has declared that the LRA rebellion is coming to an end, following UPDF successfully razed the headquarters of Kony in southern Sudan on July 28. During the heavy battle in Dirinyang area near southern Sudan city of Juba, Kony narrowly survived, leaving his four wives and 13 children captured.

Source: Xinhua