Ugandan forces capture Kony's top LRA commander

Ugandan forces have captured a senior commander in Joseph Kony's Lord's Resistance Army after a brief fight with rebels near the Congo-Central African Republic border, according to an army official, in what an analyst described as an "intelligence coup" for forces hunting Kony. Lieutenant Colonel Abdul Rugumayo, intelligence chief for Uganda's military operation against the LRA, said on Sunday that Caesar Acellam was captured on Saturday with two other rebel fighters as they tried to cross the Mbomu river. 

 Although Acellam is not one of the LRA commanders indicted along with Kony in 2005 by the International criminal court (ICC), 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.

 Details of precisely how Acellam was captured were not available, but some analysts said it was possible he had just walked into the hands of Ugandan army officials. "He's been on the defection shelf for a long time," said Angelo Izama, a political analyst with the Kampala-based security thinktank Fanaka Kwawote. "This is a big intelligence coup for the Ugandan army." A Ugandan army official said losing Acellam was a big blow to Kony, whose forces have become increasingly degraded by a lack of food and having to constantly move to elude capture. "He is big fish, very big fish," the official said of Acellam, who has been with the LRA for over 20 years.

 "He is one of the top division commanders." The official said Kony, whom Ugandan officials suspect to be hiding in Sudan, has traditionally lived in bush camps far from where his top commanders hide, apparently as a security precaution. "Kony does not want his commanders near him," he said. "He wants to be alone." Kony recently became the focus of international attention after the US advocacy group Invisible Children made an online video seeking to make him infamous.

 In 2005 the ICC indicted Kony, along with four other LRA commanders, for crimes against humanity and war crimes. Two of them have since died. Last year Barack Obama sent 100 troops to help regional governments eliminate the LRA. But the manhunt for its leaders has proved tough, with the rebels moving in very small groups and avoiding technology. Encounters between Ugandan troops and the rebels are very rare. Only about 200 LRA members remain the jungle, according to Ugandan officials.

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Man Arrested For Beating A Widow Till Her Teeth Fell Off (PHOTO)

A middle age man, Monday Ekpo, is in police custody for allegedly assaulting his neighbour and removing her front teeth. The suspect was arrested at the weekend following complaint by one Ebere Ogbonna that Ekpo beat her following her refusal to date him Ogbonna, a widow and a mother of nine, told police officers that Ekpo had threatened to kill her following her refusal to date him. "I lost my husband some years back and I have been struggling to fend for my nine boys," she said.

 "I had twins three times, and since their father died I have catered for them. Sometime last year, Monday asked me to date him but I refused. For more than three occasions, he attempted to rape me in my one room apartment. We are neighbours. He was bent on sleeping with me but I told him I was not interested; this angered him and he told me he will make my life a living hell."

 The victim said her initial efforts to involve officers of the Iponri Police Station proved abortive as Ekpo is said to be a leader of a youth gang in the area. "On April 5th, I attended a friend’s child naming ceremony, Monday was there and he attacked me saying that he was the chairman and I should leave," she said. "He pushed and shoved me out of the room, and as I resisted him, he slapped me on the face. 

I went to report him to the elders in the community and as they called him to warn him from assaulting me, Monday descended on me and beat me to a stupor. Sympathisers took me to the hospital where I later woke up and found out that Monday had removed my three teeth." Agbodimu Musbau, the Community Development Association Chairman of the area, said residents of the community were appalled by the incident. "Ebere is a widow and also a member of the vigilante group in the area," he said.

 "When the matter was reported, we took it up and arrested Monday and handed him over to the police at the Iponri Police Station, but we were shocked when Monday was released the same day as his gang went to the police station to threaten the officers to release him or face their wrath. It was even sad when Monday started bragging that no police man in the area can arrest him, so that was why we brought the matter to the Lagos State Commissioner of Police so that we can get justice and we are happy that the commissioner, Umar Manko, acted prompted and Monday and the IPO have been detained over the assault of a helpless widow."

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