Obama Deploys Troops to Central Africa

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /> <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 8.0pt;">By Luis Ramirez from Pentagon<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"><span>  </span><span> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">U.S. President Barack Obama has deployed 100 <st1:country-region w:st="on">U.S.</st1:country-region> troops to <st1:place w:st="on">Central Africa</st1:place> to help forces that are fighting the Lord’s Resistance Army group - known for its campaign of rape and killing in the region, and its use of child soldiers.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The president, in a letter to Congress, said he has authorized the deployment of a small force of combat-ready <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region> troops.<span>  </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Defense department officials say the first of about 100 troops arrived in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Uganda</st1:place></st1:country-region> this week. The rest will follow in the coming weeks, moving into areas of South Sudan, the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Central African Republic</st1:place></st1:country-region>, and the Democratic Republic of Congo where the group operates. A department official says <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region> troops will remain as long as needed, perhaps several months.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">In his letter, President Obama said that although the troops will be combat-ready, they will only be providing information, advice, and assistance to regional forces fighting for the removal of Joseph Kony, who is the head of the Lord’s Resistance Army. Obama said the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region> troops will not engage the L.R.A. directly, except in self-defense.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Center for Strategic and International Studies Africa researcher Richard Downie explained why Kony is of concern to the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">United States</st1:place></st1:country-region>. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">“Joseph Kony and his followers have committed egregious human-rights abuses in a large swathe of <st1:place w:st="on">Africa</st1:place> for many, many years now.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Really, I think the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region> feels it has to act to tackle the L.R.A. because of the abuses it has committed. It does not pose a national security threat to the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">United States</st1:place></st1:country-region> as such, but it feels impelled to act in this situation,” he said.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The deployment is in line with President Obama’s public commitment to promote governance and human rights in <st1:place w:st="on">Africa</st1:place>. The troops will primarily assist the Ugandan army, which has taken the lead in fighting the L.R.A.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Downie says <st1:country-region w:st="on">Uganda</st1:country-region> and other nations in the region have been unable to eradicate the group on their own and are eager for <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region> help.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">“Intelligence suggests that it is operating in perhaps two or three small groups in very remote areas, one of them in the far northeast of the <st1:country-region w:st="on">Congo</st1:country-region>, another in the <st1:country-region w:st="on">Central African Republic</st1:country-region>, and perhaps another one also in <st1:place w:st="on">South Sudan</st1:place>. So this really explains why it is so difficult to eliminate this group because they are operating in a remote region, in very, very small groups,” said Downie.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The Pentagon is not saying what types of units are being deployed. Officials say soldiers will work to safeguard civilians. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region> launched a similar support operation to try to combat the L.R.A. in 2008. That mission failed to capture Kony and other commanders. The operation came under criticism by human-rights advocates, who said the effort resulted in a campaign of revenge by L.R.A. fighters who killed hundreds of civilians in the months that followed.---VOA News<o:p></o:p></span></div></div>

Obama Deploys Troops to Central Africa

By Luis Ramirez from Pentagon     U.S. President Barack Obama has deployed 100 U.S. troops to Central Africa to help forces that are fig...

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