President Barack Obama is sending 100 U.S. troops to central Africa to help regional forces hunt down leaders of the Lord's Resistance Army, a notoriously violent guerrilla group, CNN reports. Obama wrote in a letter to House Speaker John Boehner and Senate president pro tempore Daniel Inouye, "I believe that deploying these U.S. Armed Forces furthers U.S. national security interests and foreign policy and will be a significant contribution toward counter-LRA efforts in central Africa." The U.S. troops will advise African troops but not engage in combat unless necessary for self-defense. Obama notes that The Lord's Resistance Army has "murdered, raped and kidnapped tens of thousands of men, women and children in central Africa [and] continues to commit atrocities ... that have a disproportionate impact on regional security."
