At least four CV-22 Ospreys and refuelling planes, as well as 150 Air Force special forces personnel are expected to arrive in Uganda this week.
The US first deployed some 100 special forces in 2011 to help African countries hunt down Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) leader Kony.
The US forces are to be based in Uganda but will be used in other countries where the LRA is present, the BBC quoted National Security Council spokesperson Caitlin Hayden as saying.
She said African Union-led forces would remain in charge of the operation, with the US retaining an advisory role.
The US has also offered up to 5 million dollars for information leading to Kony’s arrest.
The Ugandan rebel leader has been under an ICC arrest warrant since 2005, along with senior LRA commanders Vincent Otti, Okot Odhiambo and Dominic Ongwen. They are suspected of crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in northern Uganda. But in recent years the LRA has also been terrorizing civilians in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic and South Sudan.
According to reports which have not been confirmed either by Uganda or the ICC, Vincent Otti was killed in 2007 on Kony’s orders, while Okot Odhiambo died in the CAR at the end of last year in clashes between the LRA and the Ugandan army.
ER/ JC