Fighter Defects, Citing Ties to the Fugitive African Warlord Joseph Kony

A man claiming to be a senior commander in the Lord’s Resistance Army, the ruthless renegade guerrilla organization in central Africa led by Joseph Kony, the fugitive warlord, has surrendered to a joint military task force of the United States and the African Union, a State Department spokeswoman said Tuesday in Washington.

The spokeswoman, Jen Psaki, told reporters at the department’s daily briefing that efforts were underway to verify the identity of the man, who defected and claimed to be Dominic Ongwen, a brigade commander. Mr. Ongwen is among a group of Lord’s Resistance Army soldiers, led by Mr. Kony, who have been wanted for a decade by the International Criminal Court at The Hague for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Ms. Psaki said that if the man in custody proved to be Mr. Ongwen, it would “present a historic blow to the L.R.A.’s command structure.”

The surrender, if confirmed, could also be a boon for the International Criminal Court. Fatou Bensouda, its chief prosecutor, has been forced to shelve the investigation into the group because she has been unable to gain custody of any of the indicted men.

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