Lt. Col. Opio Sam being received by the UPDF’s Col. Michael Kabango in CAR on Wednesday

BREAKING NEWS: Senior LRA commander Lt. Col. Opio Sam has surrendered today in the Central African Republic. A spokesman for the UPDF (Uganda People’s Defense Force) confirmed that Opio surrendered Wednesday and explained that Opio, who was among LRA’s top leadership, was accompanied by a small group of fighters, a boy and two women. Opio has been received by the commander of the Ugandan military contingent in CAR, Col. Michael Kabango.

This is a major loss for the LRA as Opio is a very senior figure, and a major win for the ongoing strategy of encouraging defection in order to erode Joseph Kony’s fighting force from within. In 2013 approximately 20% of the LRA’s fighters defected with well over 80% citing radio broadcasts and other “Come Home” programs as their reason for leaving the bush.

“Come Home” broadcast programing is an effort that The Voice Project began championing in 2008 with what has become known as the “Amplify Peace” program, a replication and expansion of efforts used effectively in Uganda by local broadcasters, primarily MEGA FM’s Lacambel Oryema, since the 1980’s. The goal was to take this method to the current combat theaters of South Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo and Central African Republic, and utilize what had worked in Uganda; information on returning home carried by methods such as radio broadcasts and regional songs of forgiveness.

Today, “Come Home” programing is widely considered by military and NGO efforts alike as one of, if not the main facet in the strategy for bringing an end to Joseph Kony’s almost three decade long reign of terror in central Africa, and surrenders like today’s continue to prove the program’s efficacy. Radio and music are helping to end a war. TVP maintains the largest online resource center and archive for broadcasters, and a low bandwidth accessible downloading page for broadcasters in the combat region to download “Come Home” content at http://voiceproject.org/radio-resources-low.php