President Obama announced Friday that he has deployed American “combat-equipped” troops to Uganda to remove Lord’s Resistance Army leader Joseph Kony from the battlefield.
In a letter to House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), the president said that the mission to take out Kony serves the national security interests of the United States. An initial team of American forces deployed on Wednesday, and Obama said that more would arrive in the next month.
According to a senior Defense official, 100 military personel, the bulk of which come from U.S. Special Operation Forces, will be sent to regional capitals to assist and advise local militaries and civilian governments. However, they are not tasked with directly combatting LRA forces.
The decision serves as a continuation of ongoing U.S. efforts to help regional governments fight the LRA. Since 2008, the U.S. has contributed $33 million in assistance to the Uganda People’s Defence Force.