A man claiming to be one of the top commanders of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) has surrendered to U.S. forces in the Central African Republic, said State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki.

She said the man who gave himself up claimed to be senior LRA leader Dominic Ongwen and was in the custody of U.S. forces deployed in the hunt for warlord Joseph Kony in the CAR. "If the individual proves to be Ongwen, his defection would represent a historic blow to the LRA's command structure," she said.

"Efforts to establish full and positive identification continue, so I don't have confirmation of that at this point," Psaki said.



According to the United Nations, the Kony-led LRA has killed more than 100,000 people and kidnapped more than 60,000 children in an almost three-decade reign of terror in central Africa.

In 2013, the U.S. offered up to $5 million for the capture of Kony, who is also wanted by the International Criminal Court along with Ongwen and two other lieutenants.

There is also a $5 million bounty offered for information leading to the arrest, transfer and conviction of Ongwen, whom the State Department accuses of "murder, enslavement and cruel treatment of civilians."



The ICC issued an arrest warrant for Ongwen in 2005 on charges of three counts of crimes against humanity and four of war crimes.



According to LRACrisisTracker.com, set up by two nongovernmental organizations to map atrocities by the LRA, Ongwen was abducted as a 10-year-old while on his way to school and conscripted by the LRA.