https://www.reuters.com/article/us-southsudan-kony-idUSBRE82N08T20120324/

The Americans are playing a pivotal role in some aspects," AU special envoy Francisco Madeira said on Saturday. “They support us militarily, they support us with equipment, they support us with military advice, they support us even with intelligence and training,” he told reporters at its launch ceremony in the South Sudanese capital Juba.

So it was, more or less, a way to sell arms to African countries in the name of peace