Monday, May 14, 2012

Acellam LRA defection?

Interesting speculation in a local Ugandan newspaper (Daily Monitor) this morning that the capture of LRA Commander, Ceasar Acellam Otto was actually a defection and not a true capture. He was captured over the weekend crossing the river from DRC to CAR with his wife, a daughter, and a helper, but said that he had left his usual cohort of 30 LRA fighters in DRC. The paper cited past attempts at defection by Ceasar thwarted by close supervision by Kony as evidence for a possible defection. Ceasar said he was happy to be out of the bush but commented that the LRA had a good supply of wild-grown food. Implications of a capture/defection: If Ceasar had elected to move about intentionally in a small family unit of just 4-5 people it could indicate a shift to such small unit size it would be nearly impossible to track and capture the estimated remaining 200-300 remaining fighters. If it was a defection and Ceasar was able to walk away from his escorts it may cause others to try to slip away. If Ceasar is granted amnesty, as some MPs in the paper argued he should be eligible, other LRA fighters could see his gentler treatment as a sign that they would also receive amnesty and defect as well. Link to the article: http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/Was+Acellam+captured+or+did+he+surrender+/-/688334/1405298/-/1xyhli/-/index.html

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