25 March 2014
US sends special troops and aircraft to Uganda to search for Joseph Kony
On 24 March 2014 a senior US military official confirmed that the US is sending 150 special troops and at least four military aircraft to Uganda in order to search for the fugitive warlord, Joseph Kony. In 2005 the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Kony, on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The Washington Post reported that the US forces are authorised to give information, advice and assistance to the 5000-strong African Union force that is tracking Kony and his Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). However, US troops are prohibited from fighting LRA forces themselves, except in cases of self-defence. In 2011, the US sent 100 troops to Uganda, in order to search for the LRA combatants, who are mainly hiding in the jungles of the Central African Republic, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo. ‘The additional support will enable the African Union troops to conduct targeted operations to apprehend remaining LRA combatants,’ US National Security Council spokeswoman, Caitlin Hayden, said on 24 March.
Source: The New York Times | More U.S. Troops to Aid Uganda Search for Kony
Source: The Washington Post | US sends more troops, aircraft to search for Kony
Source: The Guardian | US sends special forces to Uganda to hunt for brutal warlord Joseph Kony