Operation Observant Compass

{{Short description|Military operation}}

{{Infobox military conflict

| conflict = Operation Observant Compass

| partof = Lord's Resistance Army insurgency and War on Terror

| image = File:USMC-120227-M-CF241-424.jpg

| caption = U.S. Marine Sgt. Joseph Bergeron, a task force combat engineer, explains combat marksmanship tactics to a group of Ugandan soldiers.

| date = 2011 – 2017 (6 years)

| place = Uganda, with spillovers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Sudan & the Central African Republic.

| status = American victory

• Founder and leader of the LRA Joseph Kony goes into hiding
• Senior LRA commander Dominic Ongwen surrenders to American forces in the Central African Republic and is tried at the Hague
• Majority of LRA installations and encampments located in South Sudan and Uganda abandoned and dismantled
• Small scale LRA activity continues in eastern DR Congo, and the Central African Republic

| combatant1 = {{flagicon|United States}} United States

• {{Flagicon image|Flag of the United States Army.svg}} U.S. Army
• {{Flagicon image|Flag of the United States Marine Corps.svg}} U.S. Marine Corps
• {{Flagicon image|Flag of the United States Air Force.svg}} U.S. Air Force
• {{flagicon image|Flag of the United States Navy (unofficial proportions).svg}} U.S. Navy
• U.S. Africa Command

{{flagicon|Uganda}} Uganda
{{flagicon|Democratic Republic of the Congo}} Democratic Republic of the Congo
{{flagicon|South Sudan}} South Sudan
{{flagicon|Central African Republic}} Central African Republic

| combatant2 = {{flagicon image|Flag red yellow 5x3.svg|size=25px}} Lord's Resistance Army

| commander1 = {{flagicon|United States}} Barack Obama
{{flagicon|United States|size=23px}} Donald Trump
{{flagicon|United States|size=23px}} Robert Gates
{{flagicon|United States|size=23px}} Leon Panetta
{{flagicon|United States|size=23px}} Chuck Hagel
{{flagicon|United States|size=23px}} Ash Carter
{{flagicon|United States|size=23px}} Jim Mattis
{{flagicon|Uganda}} Yoweri Museveni
{{flagicon|Democratic Republic of the Congo}} Joseph Kabila
{{flagicon|South Sudan}} Salva Kiir
{{flagicon|Central African Republic}} François Bozizé
{{flagicon|Central African Republic}} Michel Djotodia
{{flagicon|Central African Republic}} Alexandre-Ferdinand Nguendet
{{flagicon|Central African Republic}} Catherine Samba-Panza
{{flagicon|Central African Republic}} Nicolas Tiangaye
{{flagicon|Central African Republic}} Faustin-Archange Touadéra

| commander2 = {{flagicon image|Flag red yellow 5x3.svg|size=25px}} Joseph Kony

}}

Operation Observant Compass was an American military operation initially focused on apprehending Joseph Kony and the Lord's Resistance Army in Central Africa. It was overseen by United States Africa Command.

NBC News wrote in March 2017 that "The area of operations is the size of California, with about 80 military personnel and several dozen support personnel tasked with finding around 150 fighters with Kony's Lord's Resistance Army, operating across portions of four countries in some of the world's most inaccessible terrain."{{Cite web|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/inside-green-berets-hunt-warlord-joseph-kony-n726076|title=EXCLUSIVE: Inside the Green Berets' hunt for brutal warlord|website=NBC News|date=6 March 2017 }}

In 2017, with around $780 million spent on the operation, and Kony still in the field, the United States wound down Observant Compass and shifted its forces elsewhere. But the operation didn't completely disband, according to the Defense Department: “U.S. military forces supporting Operation Observant Compass transitioned to broader scope security and stability activities that continue the success of our African partners."{{cite web |url= https://news.yahoo.com/revealed-the-us-militarys-36-codenamed-operations-in-africa-090000841.html |last1=Turse|first1=Nick|last2=Naylor|first2=Sean D.|title=Revealed: The U.S. military's 36 code-named operations in Africa|date=April 17, 2019|publisher=Yahoo! news|accessdate=April 19, 2019}}{{Cite journal|last1=Demmers|first1=Jolle|last2=Gould|first2=Lauren|date=2018-10-01|title=An assemblage approach to liquid warfare: AFRICOM and the 'hunt' for Joseph Kony|journal=Security Dialogue|language=en|volume=49|issue=5|pages=364–381|doi=10.1177/0967010618777890|issn=0967-0106|pmc=6168742|pmid=30333686}}