ENTEBBE, Uganda — Officials say the African Union will send 5,000 soldiers to hunt for rebel leader Joseph Kony in a mission officials describe as necessary to remove the Lord’s Resistance Army from Central Africa.
U.N. and African Union officials said in a news conference Friday that the mission is to be launched in South Sudan on Saturday and will last until Kony is caught.
The hunt for Kony has primarily been carried out by Ugandan troops, who received a boost last year when President Barack Obama deployed 100 U.S. forces to help regional governments in the mission.
Friday’s announcement comes amid an Internet movie campaign by the group Invisible Children to make Kony “famous” so policymakers would make it a priority to remove him.