Obama calls for elimination of Uganda's rebel group
An internally displaced man shows an unexploded rocket propelled grenade he found during grass collection to thatch his hut at Pabbo refugee camp in northern Uganda, April 27, 2007. In the last 20 years, led by self-declared prophet Joseph Kony the LRA guerrillas became notorious for mutilating civilians and kidnapping children. In camps where they were supposed to receive refuge, north Ugandans have instead suffered horrors, with 1,000 people a week dying from treatable diseases, International Crisis Group (ICG) said, quoting local figures. Talks resumed in south Sudan on Thursday, with U.N. envoy and former Mozambique president Joaquim Chissano warning that if squandered, the opportunity may never return to end a war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced 1.7 million people. Picture taken April 27, 2007. REUTERS/James Akena

United States President Barack Obama has announced intent to take on the Uganda's most feared Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). Responding to US legislation passed in May this year, Obama declared his four-point strategy which called for disarmament of Joseph Kony-led LRA fighters.

In a letter to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Obama called for 'apprehension or removal of Kony and his commanders from the battlefield'. He stated that his strategy was to promote the defection or disarmament of LRA fighters and increase humanitarian assistance to people in LRA-affected areas. United States has reportedly spent more than $23 million on the Ugandan army for logistical and intelligence support over operations against the LRA since December 2008.

The LRA has been operating in Northern parts of Uganda since 1987. The group aims to protect the interests of Acholi community, which was under attack by the then Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and his forces.

Kony and his associates are wanted by the International Criminal Court in The Hague. They are accused of recruiting child soldiers, as well as rapes and mass killings in the country. A recent offensive by the Uganadan army has reportedly dispersed the rebels into the neighboring Sudan, the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

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