Obama deploys 100 U.S. military personnel to central Africa
Troops will advise forces fighting to remove Joseph Kony, the leader of the Lord's Resistance Army.
President Obama has authorized the deployment of about 100 U.S. troops and military personnel to advise forces in central Africa fighting to remove Joseph Kony, the leader of the Lord's Resistance Army, from the battlefield.
In a letter to House Speaker John Boehner, Obama outlined the LRA's suspected atrocities and why he ordered the deployment to Uganda, South Sudan, the Central African Republic, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The first troops arrived in Uganda on Wednesday.
"I believe that deploying these U.S. Armed Forces furthers U.S. national security interests and foreign policy and will be a significant contribution toward counter-LRA efforts in central Africa," Obama wrote.
The deployment will include two combat-equipped teams and communications and logistics personnel, but "although the U.S. forces are combat-equipped, they will only be providing information, advice, and assistance to partner nation forces, and they will not themselves engage LRA forces unless necessary for self-defense."
Members of the LRA have murdered, raped, and kidnapped tens of thousands of people in the region, Obama wrote.