LRA young turks take over

By Raymond Baguma

The Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebel group is undergoing a leadership transformation.

The outgoing commander of the UPDF operations, Col. Joseph Balikudembe, said the old guard is now rendered useless and Kony is empowering the young fighters to keep the rebel group’s operations active.

Balikudembe said intelligence gathered from the LRA indicate that Kony has placed his commander, Dominic Ongwen, under the watch of young officers. Ongwen is less effective ever since he was shot in the left leg and walks with a limp.

Balikudembe said Lt. Michael Oryem, who defected recently, did not keep close watch of Acellam as instructed, giving him room to defect. Acellam defected early this year.

Oryem felt his life was in danger because he did not secure the person whom he had been entrusted with.

Olanyo, one of the former LRA fighters, said Kony had handed the command role to Okot Odhiambo.

“We last heard from Kony last February. We were in Congo and Kony called Odhiambo and told him to keep commanding the troops. I don’t know where Kony is,” Olanyo said.