Operation Observant Compass was an American military operation initially focused on apprehending Joseph Kony and the Lord's Resistance Army in Central Africa. It was overseen by United States Africa Command. NBC News wrote in March 2017 that "The area of operations is the size of California, with about 80 military personnel and several dozen support personnel tasked with finding around 150 fighters with Kony's Lord's Resistance Army, operating across portions of four countries in some of the world's most inaccessible terrain."[1]
Operation Observant Compass | |||||||
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Part of Lord's Resistance Army insurgency and War on Terror | |||||||
U.S. Marine Sgt. Joseph Bergeron, a task force combat engineer, explains combat marksmanship tactics to a group of Ugandan soldiers. | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Uganda Democratic Republic of the Congo South Sudan Central African Republic | Lord's Resistance Army | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Barack Obama Donald Trump Yoweri Museveni Joseph Kabila Salva Kiir François Bozizé Michel Djotodia Alexandre-Ferdinand Nguendet Catherine Samba-Panza Nicolas Tiangaye Faustin-Archange Touadéra | Joseph Kony |
In 2017, with around $780 million spent on the operation, and Kony still in the field, the United States wound down Observant Compass and shifted its forces elsewhere. But the operation didn't completely disband, according to the Defense Department: “U.S. military forces supporting Operation Observant Compass transitioned to broader scope security and stability activities that continue the success of our African partners."[2][3]
References
edit- ^ "EXCLUSIVE: Inside the Green Berets' hunt for brutal warlord". NBC News.
- ^ Turse, Nick; Naylor, Sean D. (April 17, 2019). "Revealed: The U.S. military's 36 code-named operations in Africa". Yahoo! news. Retrieved April 19, 2019.
- ^ Demmers, Jolle; Gould, Lauren (2018-10-01). "An assemblage approach to liquid warfare: AFRICOM and the 'hunt' for Joseph Kony". Security Dialogue. 49 (5): 364–381. doi:10.1177/0967010618777890. ISSN 0967-0106. PMC 6168742. PMID 30333686.