A US military detachment being sent to Uganda will also be used in parts of Central African Republic, DR Congo and South Sudan, the White House confirmed on Monday, after announcing its second deployment of special operations forces in Africa within a week.

At least four CV-22 Ospreys, a tilt-rotor aircraft capable of vertical takeoff and landing, are being sent with 150 special operations airmen to assist in the hunt for members of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA).

The escalating pursuit of Joseph Kony, the fugitive leader of the LRA accused of scores of massacres, comes just days after the White House also deployed US navy Seals in north Africa to capture an oil tanker taken by Libyan rebels.

White House officials stressed that the Ugandan assistance was an evolution in its existing support for the fight against the LRA, and not a sign of greater military involvement in the region.



“The deployment of these aircraft and personnel does not signify a change in the nature of the US military advisory role in this effort,” said spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden. “African Union-led regional forces remain in the lead, with US forces supporting and advising their efforts.”

The US says its African partners have “consistently identified airlift as one of their greatest limiting factors as they search for and pursue the remaining LRA leaders across a wide swath of one of the world’s poorest, least governed, and most remote regions.”

But the White House was also forced to defend its decision to provide logistical support to a Ugandan government that has itself been heavily criticised in Washington and around the world for its treatment of gay people.

"Ensuring justice and accountability for human rights violators like the LRA and protecting LGBT rights aren’t mutually exclusive. We can and must do both,” Hayden said.

“We are cognisant that there are many who share our concerns about Ugandan president Museveni’s recent enactment of the Anti-Homosexuality Act,” added Hayden, in a statement provided to the Guardian.

Previously, the US previously deployed around 100 troops in October 2011, to serve as “military advisers” in the hunt for LRA commanders and to support efforts to protect civilians.

In a separate factsheet issued on Tuesday, the State Department said it had also deployed a field officer and previously offered rewards of up to $5m for information leading to the arrests or conviction of LRA leaders Joseph Kony, Okot Odhiambo, and Dominic Ongwen.

“The LRA is one of the world's most notorious atrocity perpetrators,” said Hayden. “For nearly three decades, the LRA has displaced, maimed, and terrorised innocent people across four countries, including abducting tens of thousands of children and forcing them to become sex slaves or child soldiers and to commit unspeakable acts.”