Vituko Mitaani

President Barack Obama dispatched about 100 U.S. troops — mostly special operations forces — to central Africa to advise in the fight against the Lord's Resistance Army.
The LRA is a guerrilla group accused of widespread atrocities across several countries. The first U.S. troops arrived Wednesday.
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.
The U.S. has not had forces in Somalia since pulling out shortly after the 1993 Black Hawk Down battle in Mogadishu in which 18 American troops died.
Some experts believe that the U.S. military advisers sent to Uganda could be a reward for the U.S.-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 U.S. group working to end genocide and crimes against humanity, especially in central Africa.
"The U.S. doesn't have to fight al-Qaida-linked Shabab in Somalia, so we help Uganda take care of their domestic security problems, freeing them up to fight a more dangerous — or a more pressing, perhaps — issue in Somalia. I don't know if we would necessarily say that but it's surely a plausible theory," Brown said.
Col. Felix Kulayigye, Uganda's military spokesman, told The Associated Press previously that Ugandan forces have long received "invaluable" support from the U.S. military, including intelligence sharing, in the fight against the LRA.
The deployment drew support from Republican Sen. James Inhofe, who has visited the region.
"I have witnessed firsthand the devastation caused by the LRA, and this will help end Kony's heinous acts that have created a human rights crisis in Africa," he said in a statement. "Today's action offers hope that the end of the LRA is in sight."
Senator John McCain, Obama's Republican opponent in the 2008 presidential election, said promoting African stability by reducing the LRA threat was a "worthy goal" but Obama should have consulted Congress before putting forces "into harm's way."
Another Republican, Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, said he hopes it will "save innocent lives and begin to bring the LRA to justice for the immense human tragedy that has fallen across central Africa at its hands."
Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., said during an Iowa presidential campaign trip that Obama didn't bother to tell Congress what he'd done, NBC News reported.
"He did it unilaterally and he waited till everybody was out of Washington this afternoon to say what he did," she said.
"When it comes to sending our brave young men and women into foreign nations, we have to first demonstrate a vital American national interest," she said. "If there's anything that we should have learned in the last 10 or 12 years, it's that once you send your troops in, it's very difficult to get them out. Very difficult."
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 U.S. Africa Command, which oversees U.S. military operations on the continent, is based in Germany. The U.S. maintains a base in the tiny East African nation of Djibouti, but most troops there are not on combat missions.