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Uganda: Kony Eludes American Troops

By Staff 23/02/2012 05:51:00

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Despite President Obama's deployment of 100 American troops to aid the manhunt for Joseph Kony, US officials admit that the Lord's Resistance Army rebel leader remains elusive and holed up at an undisclosed location in the Central African Republic.

The officials said, however, that the LRA has been decimated to about 200 fighters, as many more continue to defect from rebel ranks, in what count as some of the positive developments in the last few months as a result of pressure from America and partner states fighting the rebels.

Rear Admiral Brian L. Losey, the US special operations commander for Africa, told reporters across Africa and Europe during a telephonic news briefing yesterday that US troops, who are now deployed in four African countries in search for Kony, are yet to pinpoint his exact location.

The US announced in October it was sending 100 soldiers, mostly special operations forces, to Africa to help in the fight against the LRA.

Admiral Losey said the troops deployed in Uganda, Congo, South Sudan and the Central African Republic are coordinating intelligence from the different countries as well as "information from situational awareness" to try and locate Kony.

"That is part of an ongoing assessment in process and as we get more refined in executing that process, we expect also to identify those requirements that will help increase our effectiveness [in finding Kony]," he said.

Admiral Losey said Kony has been able to elude capture because he is exploiting porous borders "among these four nations" while using this space "an area as large as the geographical area of California to hide."

He said Kony, whose rebels have raped and murdered its way through the East African region for more than two decades, is also using his ill reputation "as a ruthless killer to intimidate populations to allow his movements in the very dense and difficult terrain."

Mr Karl E. Wycoff, the US deputy assistant secretary of state for Africa, said America was offering logistical and technical support in this "multilateral effort" against the LRA which was paying dividends such as an increase in the number of people defecting or being released from the rebel ranks.

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