ENTEBBE, Uganda, March 24 (UPI) -- The African Union said it would deploy 5,000 troops to search for Joseph Kony, the leader of the Lord's Resistance Army.
Francisco Madeira, the AU's special envoy on the LRA, said the troops will be supplied by Uganda, the Central African Republic, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, Voice of American reported. The LRA has been active in those countries.
Madeira said the operation will continue until Kony is captured or killed.
The announcement comes after the release of "Kony 2012," a video focusing on Kony's brutal tactics over two decades that resulted in thousands of deaths and kidnappings of children forced to become soldiers or sex slaves in his Lord's Resistance Army. The video, which has been viewed more than 100 million times online, calls for Kony's arrest.
Madeira said the deployment of troops is not in response to the video.
Kony also is wanted for crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court.
In October, CNN reported, the United States sent 100 troops on a mission to kill or capture Kony, whose LRA failed in its attempt to overthrow the Uganda government.
Madeira said the AU troops would work with the 100 U.S. troops.
Since the LRA rebels left Uganda in 2006, Ugandan troops have been hunting the LRA in central Africa.
