US trainers to remain in Africa

THE US would continue to train local forces in the fight against the Lord’s Resistance Army, a rebel group active in central Africa, it said this week, tempering last month’s announcement that it would withdraw troops from the region.

The announcement comes amid fears the removal of US trainers might create a security void that could revitalise the rebel group, which has operated for almost three decades in Uganda, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic (CAR).

Despite plans by the Trump administration to rein in sprawling US security commitments around the globe, including the six-year fight against the LRA, there is no other global power willing and able to fill that gap.

Last month, the US Africa Command said it planned to remove dozens of special operations forces troops from the region. But on Thursday, it stepped back from its assertion that the LRA no longer posed a serious regional threat.

“We obviously have concerns about the possibility of the LRA coming back to fruition,” Marine-general Thomas Waldhauser, head of the US Africa Command, said. “We will continue to work with those countries with training and exercises. We are certainly aware of the fact that we do not want to leave a void there.”

Uganda announced on Wednesday it would withdraw its troops from the CAR, where its forces had helped search for Joseph Kony, the Ugandan leader of the LRA. “With fewer than 100 armed fighters, Kony is now weak and ineffective. He no longer poses a significant threat to Uganda’s security,” the country’s military said.

But the UN expressed concern about Uganda’s withdrawal, saying it would probably “bolster the LRA”. – The Washington Post