The African Union will launch a new military campaign against Lord's Resistance Army bases in the Central African Republic (CAR), officials announced on Friday according to dpa. The new force will have some 5,000 members, including soldiers and humanitarian officials. The soldiers will be drawn from the African countries who have been directly affected by the LRA, including Uganda, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and CAR. "The force will undergo rigorous training and will live in the bushes to track down Kony. They will use tricks that will help the fight (against) the enemy and will be involved in serious intelligence gathering," Abou Moussa, the UN's top official in CAR, told reporters. Moussa made the announcement about the new force after meeting Francisco Madeira, the AU special envoy for the LRA issue, in the Ugandan city of Entebbe. UN and AU officials told a press briefing that the formal launch of the new force would take place in Juba on Saturday, as it will be headquartered in South Sudan, where the LRA militia once roamed, causing death and destruction. Kony is wanted by the International Criminal Court on more than 30 charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes.
