Powell suggest NATO role training African peacekeepers

By PAUL AMES, Associated Press Writer

ISTANBUL, Turkey, June 27, 2004 (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell on Sunday proposed that NATO help train the militaries of African nations to improve their capacity to run peacekeeping missions.

“We should do more with respect to training African nations in peacekeeping operations and to cause their militaries to be more effective, and we’re hoping that many of our NATO colleagues will join us in this effort,” Powell said on the eve of a NATO summit.

He said the training for Africans could be extended to include peacekeeping units from other parts of the world.

“I hope that our peace initiative to train these African units and perhaps Asian units and perhaps units in the Western hemisphere as well … would be another mission that NATO might get itself involved in,” Powell told an international youth gathering.

Powell said he was spending “a lot” of his time looking for peacekeepers for Haiti, Sudan, Congo, Ivory Coast and other nations.

“Africans have that manpower, they have the capacity to do it, what they need is the training and what they need is the kind of capabilities NATO has,” he said.

The NATO summit Monday and Tuesday was expected to agree on a request from the incoming Iraqi government for help training its armed forces.