NZARA, South Sudan: Ugandan troops have captured a senior member of the Lord's Resistance Army in a significant development that could signal they are closing in on the notorious rebel leader Joseph Kony.

Caesar Acellam, considered the LRA's fourth-highest ranking member, was arrested by Ugandan forces in the Central African Republic and was flown on Sunday to the South Sudanese headquarters of the regional armies hunting the LRA.

''My coming out will have a big impact for the people still in the bush to come out and end this war soon,'' Mr Acellam told reporters, who were taken to the Central African Republic to see the rebel in custody.

The Ugandan army is leading a US-backed African Union force tasked with capturing the LRA's leaders, several of whom are wanted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court in The Hague.