Major Gen. Caesar Achellam’s arrest is a major breakthrough in the fight against LRA rebels.

Renewed international efforts to put an end to the brutal activities of Uganda’s rebel Lord’s Resistance Army, LRA, in South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic, CAR, paid off over the weekend.

The BBC reported that Major Gen. Caesar Achellam, the fourth in command to Joseph Kony and a top rebel strategist, was captured by the Ugandan army in the Central African Republic on Saturday May 12, 2012 following a fire fight with a group of 30 rebels. At least a dozen fighters escaped the ambush.

According to Uganda’s Daily Monitor newspaper, the captured LRA field commander who was seized along with his wife, young daughter and maid, later told the press that he felt a free man after spending 24 years fighting on the side of wanted warlord Joseph Kony. He expressed hope that his arrest will have a big impact on his colleagues still fighting in the bush.

The Uganda People’s Defence Force, UPDF described the arrest as a big catch, adding that Gen. Achellam was the highest LRA officer to be held since 1987. According to Col. Abdu Rugumayo, the UPDF Intelligence Officer in charge of counter LRA operation, the rebel field commander was arrested on the banks of River Mbou in CAR as he crossed with his family from the DR Congo. UPDF forces had laid a two-week ambush, lying in the surrounding bushes in the rains and scorching heat as they awaited the return of Achellam and family.

Forces from Uganda, South Sudan, DR Congo and CAR have been working together since the launch of ‘Operation Lightning Thunder’ in December 2008, but are yet to capture or kill their biggest catch, LRA leader Joseph Kony. President Barack Obama last October authorised the deployment of about 100 US Special Forces to collate intelligence using high-tech gadgets, and act as field military advisers to the regional armies, to effect the elimination of the LRA.

Five LRA commanders, including Kony, were indicted by the International Criminal Court that issued warrants of arrest in 2005, although they remain at large. Achellam was not one of the indictees. Joseph rding to the CNN, Kony led a failed uprising against the government of Uganda and was pushed out of the country in 2006. He has been moving around other countries in the region ever since.