The Pentagon could be in a race to prevent a major rebel attack on African civilians, aid groups believe. That's one disturbing possibility behind President Barack Obama's announcement of a new U.S. military mission to Central Africa.

On Friday, Obama informed Congress of the deployment of around 100 "combat-equipped" U.S. troops to help the Ugandan army track down rebel leader Joseph Kony and his cultish Lord's Resistance Army, currently hiding out somewhere in South Sudan, northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo and southern Central African Republic. The first group of Americans is already on the ground in Uganda.

Obama's announcement raised more questions than it answered. The U.S. has been quietly involved in the war on the LRA for several years, even helping the Ugandans plan a 2008 raid that missed Kony and sparked a bloody LRA reprisal. So why make such a big deal out of the latest effort? Could the new deployment represent the beginning of another U.S. "shadow war" waged by commandos and killer drones?

And why now? The LRA has been raping and pillaging across Central Africa for 20 years. What, besides a widely-ignored 2010 law, compelled Washington to try again to defeat the group?

Paul Ronan, from the aid group Resolve, explained one theory. Reports indicate that Kony's top lieutenants, previously scattered across thousands of square miles of thick forest, recently came together for the first time in years, possible to plan a fresh assault on vulnerable communities. "We don't know that this big gathering of LRA commanders will result in new attacks, but they've certainly used previous meetings to plan attacks on civilians in the past, so everyone is kind of holding their breath," Ronan told Danger Room.

Resolve and a partner aid group, Invisible Children, have created an online tool called the LRA Crisis Tracker that allows anyone with Internet access to track LRA sightings.

"Multiple reports from former LRA abductees indicate that key members of the LRA command structure gathered in southeast Central African Republic between June and September of 2011," Ronan said. The meeting reportedly included Dominic Ongwen, a former child soldier indicted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court.

"By late September an LRA group of 100 to 200 had split up and was heading into South Sudan and towards Congo, split between four and five groups," Ronan added. What they're up to, is anyone's guess – but it can't be good. And if their intentions include a large-scale assault on innocent civilians, it could explain why the Pentagon is in a hurry to intervene.

Photo: Army

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