RIVER VOVODO, Central African Republic -- Uganda has captured one of the top five members of the Lord's Resistance Army, bringing it a step closer to catching Joseph Kony, the notorious rebel leader accused of war crimes, the military said on Sunday.

The Ugandan army said it caught Caesar Achellam, a major general in Kony's outfit of about 200 fighters, in an ambush along the banks of the River Mbou in Central African Republic (CAR) on Saturday.

Achellam was armed with just an AK-47 rifle and eight rounds of ammunition, a spokesman for the Uganda People's Defence Force (UPDF), said. He was being held with his wife, a young daughter and a helper.

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Ugandan army Lt. Col. Abdul Rugumayo told The Associated Press that Achellam was in a group of about 30 LRA rebels. The others escaped.

NYT: In vast jungle, US troops aid hunt for Kony

Although Achellam is not one of the LRA commanders indicted along with Kony in 2005 by the International Criminal Court, Ugandan officials say he was Kony's top military strategist.

The UPDF, which has a force hunting for Kony full-time in the jungles of CAR, backed by U.S. troops, said the capture of Achellam would encourage other fighters to abandon the LRA.

"The arrest of Major General Caesar Achellam is big progress because he is a big fish," said UPDF spokesman Felix Kulaigye. "His capture is definitely going to cause an opinion shift within the LRA."

In 'Kony' town, video is hardly a sensation

Achellam, who was paraded before media, walked with a limp, which he attributed to an old wound. He was returning from the Democratic Republic of Congo when he walked into the soldiers' ambush. UPDF said it had been on his trail for a month.

'Very troubling for Kony'
Analysts said Achellam was a close ally of Kony and had masterminded the group's relocation from northern Uganda.

"From whichever angle you look at it, the loss of Achellam should be very troubling for Kony and a big boost for his manhunt," said Angelo Izama, an analyst who has written extensively on the LRA.

Sequel to 'Kony 2012' video released

Kony, a self-styled mystic leader who at one time wanted to rule Uganda according to the biblical Ten Commandments, fled northern Uganda in 2005, roaming first the lawless expanses of South Sudan, then the isolated northeastern tip of Congo.

In December 2008, Uganda launched Operation Lightning Thunder against the LRA, dispersing the rebels and pushing them north into CAR.

Sex slaves
The rebels live in the jungles of CAR surviving on wild yams, stolen cattle and drinking from rivers.

Kony is accused of abducting children to use as fighters and sex slaves and is said to have a fondness for hacking off limbs.

A 30-minute YouTube video by California-based film-maker Jason Russell calling for the arrest of Kony swept across the Internet in March, attracting tens of millions of views, bringing the LRA's atrocities to the attention of many people previously unaware of the group's existence.

How the 'Kony 2012' video went viral

The Ugandan government, the African Union and the United States all stepped up their commitment to the hunt for Kony in the wake of the outrage caused by the video, "Kony 2012".

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The group Invisible Children released a new video on Thursday as a follow-up to the viral "Kony 2012" film aimed at focusing global awareness on atrocities attributed to Ugandan rebel leader Joseph Kony and his Lord's Resistance Army.

"We want people to dig deeper into this conflict and actively engage in the solutions," Ben Keesey, CEO of Invisible Children, said in a statement announcing the new 20-minute video: "Kony 2012: Part II - Beyond Famous." He said the newest video is "a call to turn global awareness into informed action."

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The sequel was originally supposed to air on April 3, but for an unknown reason the group pushed the release date back to April 5.

'KONY 2012' sequel postponed

The "Kony 2012" film became an Internet sensation last month, racking up more than 86 million hits on YouTube since it was posted. Its success has been hailed for inspiring young people to activism, but has been criticized for oversimplifying the long-standing human rights crisis in the region.

It also has put Invisible Children and Jason Russell, the organization's public face, in the spotlight.

That attention turned uncomfortable last month when Russell, the star and narrator of the first "Kony 2012" film, suffered a public meltdown in California that doctors described as a brief psychotic breakdown.

"We just thought it was going to be a lot harder to make people care," the organization's Director of Idea Development, Jedidiah Jenkins, told Reuters in an earlier interview. "Most 16-year-olds do not want to hear about warlords in Africa."

 The conflict is not limited to Uganda, but has long since spilled over into the Democratic Republic of Congo, where Kony was last sighted, and where other rebel groups and government forces have also been accused of atrocities.

The Lord's Resistance Army also operates in South Sudan and the Central African Republic.

"When you see something slick, when you see something that feels like propaganda, we're used to thinking that its selling something," Jenkins said. "You can sell something that is actually good and intelligent. It doesn't have to be a trick."

Invisible Children said the new film provided a more in-depth look at the Lord's Resistance Army and outlines regional efforts to end violence in central Africa.

"The LRA has abducted more than 50 people in central Africa since Kony 2012 was launched one month ago.

"Now we have the opportunity to work together as a global community to help solve this issue," said Jolly Okot, Invisible Children's Uganda Country Director.

On April 20, the group will sponsor a "Cover the Night" day of activism, in which supporters are expected to volunteer for five hours in their communities and promote the anti-Kony cause.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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A charity whose tactics have been criticized is making traction online with a video, "KONY 2012," that aims to bring down the leader of a cult-like rebel army in Africa.

The 30-minute documentary, which has had more than 7 million YouTube downloads, was made by Invisible Children, a charity that wants Joseph Kony, head of the Lord's Resistance Army, to face trial in an international court on charges of using children as soldiers and other human rights crimes in Uganda.

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A recent Foreign Affairs report challenged the tactics used by the charity and several others, saying they had exaggerated the scale of Kony's crimes.

The blog Visible Children, written by a Canadian college student, also questioned the value of Invisible Children's emphasis on filmmaking and social media advocacy and pointed out that it was advocating for western military intervention in Africa.

Jedediah Jenkins, the charity's director of idea development, told the Washington Post that the criticism was "myopic" and that the film reflected a "tipping point" by getting young Americans to care about an issue in Africa.

"The film has reached a place in the global consciousness where people know who Kony is, they know his crimes," Jenkins added. "Kids know and they respond. And then they won’t allow it to happen anymore."

Invisible Children also posted a response to the criticisms here.

On Tuesday, the UN refugee agency said the Lord's Resistance Army had launched a new spate of attacks in the northeastern region Democratic Republic of Congo this year after a lull in the second half of 2011.

But Mounoubai Madnodje, a spokesman for the UN's Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo, said the LRA was on its last legs.

"We think right now it's the last gasp of a dying organization that's still trying to make a statement," he said. Madnodje said there are only about 200 LRA fighters left. 

But experts on the LRA were skeptical about writing off Kony's force too soon. Mareike Schomerus at the London School of Economics said small scale attacks did not necessarily mean the LRA was getting weaker.

"It doesn't tell us anything because it's the same thing they have been doing for the last 25 years," she said.

The LRA, which emerged in northern Uganda in the late 1990s, is believed to have killed, kidnapped and mutilated thousands of people. Kony is wanted by the International Criminal Court and the African Union, which has designated it as a terrorist group.

In October the United States sent 100 military personnel, mainly special forces, to train and advise the forces fighting against the LRA.

This article includes reporting by msnbc.com staff and Reuters.

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