Anaylsis: US mission may be political payback

WHY is the United States sending its troops to finish off a fractured band of bush fighters in the middle of Africa? Political payback for the quiet sacrifices of Uganda’s troops in Somalia could be one reason.

US president Barack Obama announced on Friday last week that he is dispatching about 100 troops – mostly special operations forces – to central Africa to advise in the fight against the Lord’s Resistance Army, a guerrilla group accused of widespread atrocities across several countries.

Long considered one of Africa’s most brutal rebel groups, the Lord’s Resistance Army began its attacks in Uganda more than 20 years ago. But the rebels are at their weakest point in 15 years. Their forces are fractured and scattered, and the Ugandan military estimated this year that only 200 to 400 fighters remain. In 2003, the LRA had 3,000 armed troops and 2,000 people in support roles.

But capturing LRA leader Joseph Kony – a ruthless and brutal thug – remains the highest priority for Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni, a 25-year leader who has committed thousands of troops to the African Union force in Somalia to fight militants from al-Shabaab. Some experts believe the US military advisers sent to Uganda may be a reward for the US-funded Ugandan troops’ service in Somalia.

“I’ve been hearing that. I don’t know if our group necessarily agrees with that, but it definitely would make sense,” said Matt Brown, a spokesman for the Enough Project, a group working to end genocide and crimes against humanity, especially in central Africa.

Though the deployment of 100 troops is relatively small, it marks a possible sea-change for Washington in overcoming its reluctance to commit troops to Africa. Even the US Africa Command, which oversees US military operations on the continent, is based in Germany. The US maintains a base in the tiny east African nation of Djibouti, but most troops there are not on combat missions.

The LRA poses no known security threat to the United States, and a report from the Enough Project last year said Kony no longer had complete and direct command and control over each LRA unit. But the group’s tactics have been widely condemned as vicious. Few are expected to object to Mr Obama’s move to help regional security forces eliminate a group that has slaughtered thousands of civilians and routinely kidnaps children to be child soldiers and sex slaves.

Kony is wanted by the International Criminal Court for his group’s attacks, which now take place in South Sudan, Congo and the Central African Republic.

Still, Bill Roggio, managing editor of the Long War Journal, called the Obama administration’s rationale for sending troops “puzzling”, especially since the LRA does not present a national security threat to the US – “despite what President Obama said”.

“The timing of this deployment is odd, especially given the administration’s desire to disengage from conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan,” Mr Roggio said. “It is unclear why the issue has resurfaced, but the administration may be rewarding Uganda” for its military contributions in Somalia, he said.

Mr Obama said that although the US troops will be combat equipped, they will not engage LRA forces unless it is in self-defence.

“It really doesn’t take that many US resources,” Mr Brown said.

“You’ve got 100 troops to go in and take care of the LRA problem once and for all.