Photo: Manoocher Deghati/IRIN

A child multilated by LRA rebels standing by Ugandan Defence Force soldiers.

The U.N. Security Council and the United States said Wednesday that the Lord's Resistance Army's decades-long reign of terror can be stopped if the international community helps the African Union capture fugitive warlord Joseph Kony and his henchmen.

According to the Associated Press, in a briefing to the council, the head of the U.N. Office for Central Africa, Abou Moussa, applauded the African Union's recent decision to dispatch a Uganda-led brigade of some 5,000 troops to hunt down Kony, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes.

The Lord's Resistance Army has ranged across Uganda, Congo, and the Central African Republic, and is now believed holed up in Kafia Kingi, Sudan, near the border with the Central African Republic.

"It must be stopped once and for all," U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice said Wednesday. "Our goal of permanently ending the LRA threat is within reach, but it will require sustained regional leadership and international support."

Other African countries contributing troops to the anti-Kony brigade are the Central African Republic Congo, and South Sudan. President Barack Obama has sent U.S. military advisers to aid the dragnet.

But Moussa said only the Ugandans are ready to take to the field.

Also complicating the deployment is unrest in Central African Republic, where a rebel alliance, known as Seleka, overthrew the president in December. Rebel elements have since been accused of killing civilians and looting.

But Moussa said that after recent AU talks with Prime Minister Nicolas Tiangaye, Central African Republic is ready to cooperate with the United Nations and African Union in the hunt for Kony and the remnants of the LRA. Associated Press