text: Salim Saleh's new responsibilities in Lord's Resistance Army are sign Kony is weakening, according to general 
   
   Uganda's notorious rebel chief Joseph Kony has named his son as deputy leader of his Lord's Resistance Army, a guerrilla force infamous for its extreme violence, the country's army has said. 
   
   Salim Saleh, reported to be 22, is understood to have spent his entire life in the bush with his father's force, which continues to defy international efforts to hunt them down. 
   
   "Previously the son was in charge of the group providing security to the father, but now he has an added responsibility of field command," the top Ugandan general Sam Kavuma said. 
   
   Kavuma claimed it was a sign that Kony's control of the force had been weakened, with fighters now split into several autonomous gangs. 
   
   Long since forced from Uganda, the rebels roam remote forest regions of the Central African Republic, Sudan, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. 
   
   "The role of the son is an indication Kony has lost contact with most of his commanders, some who have been killed by our forces and others are in disarray, with the rebels becoming weaker," Kavuma said. 
   
   However, the force has shown itself adept at avoiding capture and continues to launch attacks despite being hunted by Ugandan troops with the support of US special forces. 
   
   Kony, who launched a rebellion in Uganda more than two decades ago, is wanted by the international criminal court along with fellow top commanders on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity including murder, sexual slavery and using child soldiers. 
   
   "Intelligence information collated from [rebel] defectors indicate Kony's son is the most influential person after his father," said Kavuma, who heads the Ugandan mission searching for the rebel chief. 
   
   Salim Saleh is reportedly named after the younger brother of the Ugandan president, Yoweri Museveni, a top military officer and influential politician. ||||| A United Nations official said the activities of the rebel Lord's Resistance Army have been greatly reduced, but that there is "no room for complacency" while the group's leader, Joseph Kony, is still operating. 
   
   
   
   Abou Moussa, the head of the U.N. Regional Office for Central Africa, told the Security Council on Monday that an African-led military campaign and defections by rebels have weakened the L.R.A. He said the result has been a continued decline in the number of killings, abductions and people forced from their homes by the rebels. 
   
   
   
   "Now we need to see our way collectively to make sure that Kony himself is removed from the battlefield so that populations, IDPs, refugees can all go back home and live in peace," said Moussa. 
   
   
   
   He said he thinks Kony's capture is "coming pretty soon." 
   
   
   
   A report from U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon last week said there are credible sources suggesting Kony and other senior L.R.A. commanders recently sought a safe haven in an area known as Kafia Kingi that is controlled by Sudan. 
   
   
   
   Moussa cautioned that Kony regularly moves around the forested region that straddles the borders of Sudan, South Sudan and the Central African Republic, and that most of the L.R.A. activity is now in the C.A.R. 
   
   
   
   “He may have been sighted, but that doesn’t mean he’s permanent because he knows eyes are after him. We have troops who are tracking him on a daily basis,” said Moussa. 
   
   
   
   Moussa also said he met with Sudan's ambassador, who reaffirmed that the Sudanese government is not harboring Kony and that the area is a "no-man's land." 
   
   
   
   Samantha Power, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., called on Sudan to work with the African Union to investigate the reported sighting and not give the LRA any support. 
   
   
   
   "Any government should be embarrassed to be sheltering the Lord's Resistance Army. After a quarter century of merciless brutality, the L.R.A. should not be tolerated, let alone helped, by anyone," said Power. 
   
   
   
   The Security Council issued a statement praising the progress made against the L.R.A. and saying that momentum must continue until the rebels are no longer a threat. 
   
   
   
   It cited estimates from the U.N. humanitarian agency showing a dramatic decrease in the number of people displaced by the L.R.A., dropping from 420,000 people in March 2013 to 160,000 in March of this year. 
   
   
   
   Kony waged a brutal guerrilla war against the Ugandan government for nearly two decades before fleeing with his fighters to the jungles of central Africa around 2005. He is believed to have no more than a few hundred fighters remaining. 
   
   
   
   Kony is wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
target: – Joseph Kony has named his 22-year-old son as deputy leader of his Lord's Resistance Army—and top Ugandan general Sam Kavuma says the move is a sign that Kony's control over the guerrilla force is weakening. Fighters have separated into different autonomous groups roaming across remote parts of Africa, and "the role of the son is an indication Kony has lost contact with most of his commanders, some who have been killed by our forces and others are in disarray, with the rebels becoming weaker," Kavuma says, according to AFP. Salim Saleh is said to have spent his life fighting with his father's violent rebel forces. "Previously the son was in charge of the group providing security to the father, but now he has an added responsibility of field command," Kavuma says. The LRA continues to evade Ugandan troops and US special forces attempting to hunt it down. In November, there were reports Kony was ill and his reign might be nearing an end. In a report last week, the UN said Kony is hiding in a Sudanese-controlled area of the disputed border between South Sudan and the Central African Republic, al-Jazeera reports, and Voice of America adds that a UN official predicted Kony's capture is "coming pretty soon."