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    October 25, 2011

US Officials Expect Troops to Stay in Uganda for 'Months'

   Cindy Saine | Capitol Hill

   A U.S. House of Representatives panel heard testimony Tuesday on
   President Barack Obama's decision to deploy 100 troops to Central
   Africa to help the forces of Uganda and other countries fight the Lord
   Resistance Army, or LRA.

   Most of the lawmakers at the hearing expressed support for the mission
   to help to end the LRA's campaign of murder, rape and forcing children
   to be soldiers, but some representatives questioned the cost and
   duration of the mission.

AP

   Ileana Ros-Lehtinen

   The Chairwoman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Republican
   Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, said the LRA and its leader, Joseph Kony, are
   responsible for one of the longest and most violent, yet most
   under-reported, conflicts in Africa, spanning two decades and spreading
   from Uganda to South Sudan to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and
   to the Central African Republic.
   'The LRA makes no attempt to hold territories, but murders, mutilates,
   tortures, rapes and loots with impunity," Ros-Lehtinen said.
   Ros-Lehtinen said the LRA moves in small groups and strikes remote
   villages, slaughtering civilians, abducting women and children to serve
   as fighters, porters and sex slaves. It has been estimated that more
   than 80 percent of the LRA is made up of abducted children, which makes
   efforts to eradicate the group more complex.
   The two witnesses at the hearing fielded questions from lawmakers about
   the goals, the estimated cost, the scope and the duration of the U.S.
   mission.

   Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs,
   Alexander Vershbow, said local forces have weakened the LRA to about
   200 core fighters and a total of 800. He said the 100 U.S. troops, many
   of them special operations forces, would help Ugandan forces track down
   the LRA's leaders.
   "While weakened, LRA leader Joseph Kony and other top commanders remain
   at large, and they continue to direct the groups' members to commit
   unspeakable atrocities."
   Because many LRA fighters are conscripted children, U.S. troops will
   also help local forces and officials try to convince many of the
   fighters to defect," said Vershbow.

   U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Donald
   Yamamoto

AP

   U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Donald
   Yamamoto

   Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs,
   Donald Yamamoto, testified before the committee. "We will continue to
   work on the LRA fighters to peacefully disarm and leave the
   organization ranks and to come home, and currently there are about
   12,000 [who] have done so," Yamamoto said.
   Assistant Defense Secretary Vershbow reassured lawmakers that U.S.
   forces would not seek to engage LRA fighters in combat. "To be clear,
   U.S. forces deploying for this mission will not themselves engage LRA
   forces. But given the potential need to defend themselves, they will be
   equipped for combat," he added.
   Vershbow said there is no definite timeline for the U.S. deployment,
   but he estimated that it would be "months" and said it would not be
   open-ended. He said U.S. troops would mainly advise Ugandan forces on
   how to gather and use intelligence more effectively to track down Kony
   and his commanders.
   Some of the lawmakers said they support the mission, but added they
   were dismayed that Vershbow and Yamamoto did not have a cost estimate
   for the mission.
   Republican Representative Dana Rohrabacher of California said, "The
   cost is really an important factor because the United States cannot
   afford to pay the price to win everyone's else's freedom in the world."
   The United States sees Uganda as a solid partner in the region,
   especially in peacekeeping efforts in Somalia. Some analysts say the
   decision to deploy 100 U.S. special forces is a small investment that
   could yield big rewards.