18 July 2004	Sunday	29 Jamadi-ul-Awwal 1425

HOEDSPRUIT AIR FORCE BASE, July 17: The United States will help train and equip thousands of South African troops to expand Pretoria's peacekeeping efforts on the troubled continent, Washington's ambassador to the country said.

Cameron Hume said during a joint military training operation deep in the bush on Friday that the two countries were about to sign an agreement whereby Washington would help South Africa set up a force of at least 2,000 soldiers for peace efforts abroad.

South Africa has 1,400 troops in Burundi and the same number in the Democratic Republic of Congo under President Thabo Mbeki's policy of stepping up assistance to the rest of Africa.

"We are talking with the South African government about helping to train and equip two additional battalions to expand the number of forces they have available for peacekeeping," Hume said outside a clinic that US forces helped renovate.

"I think if you asked the South African military they would say they were very stretched. We are talking about a modest but not insignificant increase in their capacities ... material and training," he told reporters.

South Africa has deployed around three battalions to Burundi and Congo, meaning it needs another six in support - three resting and a further three preparing to depart.

"These operations are expensive, so this kind of help is significant," one South African military official said.

Hume spoke as he and dozens of other dignitaries visited the northern province of Limpopo to witness the culmination of Operation Medflag, a two-week medical training exercise involving hundreds of US and South African personnel.

Medflag, designed to test how both forces would cope with a humanitarian disaster, was a major charm offensive by US military medics who, along with local counterparts, treated over 6,000 people living near the South African air base.

American doctors said demand was at times overwhelming. The poverty-stricken region has high rates of HIV/AIDS and malaria and conditions such as bilharzia and cataracts are common.

"I think much better about America now. I want to go there," said cleaner Girly Silabi, 52, one of hundreds of people to receive free spectacles during the operation.

Washington wants to widen its military footprint in Africa, seen as vulnerable to terror networks due to poor security, weak institutions and long stretches of unguarded coastline.

It hopes to secure "forward operating locations" to react to security threats in Africa without setting up permanent bases.

Hume said Medflag was strictly a humanitarian mission and that such cooperation could help avert humanitarian disasters such as that unfolding in Sudan's Darfur region.

"What is the most acute problem in Africa ... it's Darfur. Innocent Africans are being killed, chased into starvation. You need an operation like this to save them from dying."-Reuters