Disappeared News

President Obama has deployed about 100 "combat-equipped U.S. forces," including special operations personnel, to central Africa to help fight against Uganda’s renegade Lord’s Resistance Army and its leader, Joseph Kony. In a letter to U.S. congressional leaders, Obama wrote, "I have authorized a small number of combat-equipped U.S. forces to deploy to central Africa to provide assistance to regional forces that are working toward the removal of Joseph Kony from the battlefield." The 100 troops, primarily U.S. special operations forces, will reportedly assist forces from Uganda, South Sudan, the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In June, it was revealed the United States would provide drone aircraft to Uganda and Burundi as part of a $45 million military aid package. Uganda is also the site of a recent major oil discovery. Researchers estimate the Lake Albert basin holds between between 2.5 and 6 billion of barrels of oil. It is the largest onshore oil discovery in sub-Saharan African in more than two decades.

The United States is intensifying its drone war in Yemen. On Friday, the United States carried out at least five drone strikes targeting members of al-Qaeda’s Yemeni branch. Nine people were reportedly killed, including Abdul-Rahman al-Awlaki, the 21-year-old son of Anwar al-Awlaki, the U.S.-born cleric who was assassinated in a separate U.S. drone strike last month. Meanwhile, anti-government protesters in Yemen are continuing to come under attack by forces allied to President Ali Abdullah Saleh. At least 13 demonstrators have been killed since Sunday. The Guardian reports protesters are writing their names across their chests for identification in case they are killed in anti-Saleh marches.