Caesar Acellam, a former Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) top commander captured by the UPDF in May this year, is sending come-home messages to rebel soldiers still in the bush.
In the message Acellam, who calls himself Major General, a rank he received in the bush, appeals to the LRA combatants to stop fighting, put down arms and return home because rebel leader Joseph Kony is deceiving them with empty promises.
In the message written in the Acholi language, Acellam tells the combatants that the Ugandan army, the UPDF whom he refers to as brothers, are not against them but wants them to return home. He cites himself as an example of a returnee who has been welcomed home by the UPDF.
Acellam tells the LRA combatants that their families, friends and the people of Uganda want them back home, adding that they are ready to forgive them and help them resettle.
He urges the combatants to stop being used as slaves and find ways of escaping. He advises that on escaping, they should look for and surrender to the Ugandan, Congolese, Central African Republic, South Sudan or United Nations forces.
Acellam convinces the combatants that these forces have been mandated to receive them and offer them safe passages home.
The messages have been translated into Lingala and Pazande, local languages spoken in the triangular border area between the Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic and South Sudan.
The messages are being aired on six radio stations in the DRC, CAR and South Sudan.
The messages are also printed on posters with Acellam’s pictures taken when he was captured by the UPDF. There are also illustrations of how the rebels should listen to the radio for the return-home messages, meditate upon them, escape and approach the national armies.
Col Felix Kulayigye, the army and defence spokesman confirmed that they are aware of the messages which are being used alongside other ways of luring back the combatants.
Asked how effective the messages are, Kulayigye says they are not very effective because the radio sets are controlled by the rebel commanders who deny access to the LRA combatants. He, however, said a few combatants have escaped after hearing the messages, although he said their numbers are negligible.
Asked how Acellam, who is in the UPDF’s custody is, Kulayigye says he is in good shape.
Ugandan forces captured Acellam, a senior commander of Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army, in May after a brief fight with rebels near the Congo-Central African Republic border.
He was one of LRA’s top commanders and intelligence chief although he was not on the International Criminal Corut’s (ICC) warrant of arrest list. He became deputy to Kony after Vincent Otti was executed by Kony in 2007, but fell out with him on suspicion that he wanted to defect using the Juba peace talks.
