JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - The Ugandan warlord and international fugitive Joseph Kony may be willing to surrender, a government source tells the BBC.

A government official says Kony has been located in the Central African Republic, which is now negotiating his surrender. For two decades Kony and his troops have terrorized the region, but there are now reports that Kony is suffering from a serious illness. If these reports are true, this would be the conclusion of manhunt that spanned countries and years with few leads.

Kony, the leader of the Lord's Resistance Army, is wanted by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity including mass murder, torture, and kidnapping of children for his army. He has long been suspected of hiding out in somewhere in the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan or the Central African Republic but for years his whereabouts have been unknown.

The search for Kony became a worldwide sensation with the Kony 2012 campaign. The campaign went viral with its video being viewed tens of millions of times across the globe. But Jason Russel, the leader of that campaign, later overshadowed the hunt for Kony when he was arrested for performing lewd acts in public.

About 100 U.S. special forces troops have been in the region to help with the hunt for Kony for the past two years and in October the unit's commander said they were stepping up their efforts to find the fugitive.

The U.S. government also offered a $5 million reward for the arrest of Kony.

AP Photo