• Military Menu                       

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Industry
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• WMD
• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

DATE=2/15/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=COHEN - AFRICA PEACEKEEPING(L)
NUMBER=2-259183
BYLINE=JIM RANDLE
DATELINE=PRETORIA, SOUTH` AFRICA
INTERNET=YES
CONTENT=
VOICED AT: 
INTRO: South Africa's minister of defense says it's 
time for more vigor in efforts to end the web of wars 
ravaging the Democratic Republic of Congo and its 
neighbors.  Minister Patrick Lakota spoke after a 
meeting with U-S Defense secretary William Cohen.  The 
American suggested a few ways that Washington could 
help but made it clear the shooting will have to stop 
before peacekeeping can begin. V-O-A's Jim Randle 
reports.
TEXT:  South African Defense Minister Patrick Lakota 
says his nation is willing to send troops and 
equipment and do its share in efforts to end fighting 
in and near the Democratic Republic of Congo, once 
known as Zaire. 
            /// PATRICK LAKOTA ACT ///
      We are keen that the implementation of the peace 
      process in the DRC be addressed with more vigor 
      by all the parties concerned.  We have also 
      agreed that efforts should be made to contain 
      the escalation of hostilities in the Angolan 
      country.
            /// End Act ///
The United Nations is considering a plan to dispatch 
more than 55-hundred military observers and troops to 
the D-R-C.  And U-S officials say a vote could come 
next week.  Secretary Cohen says the U-S would pay 
about a third of the peacekeeping cost, or about forty 
million dollars. 
Mr. Cohen says the United States, with a one-point-
four million member military force, does not have 
enough soldiers to send a large number of ground 
troops to another hot spot.  He says commitments in 
Bosnia, Kosovo, and Haiti have used up all the ground 
troops who can be spared, but he says the U-S military 
can find other ways to help.
            /// COHEN ACT ///
      What nature that suport might take remains a 
      matter of question. We certainly have tried to 
      be supportive in other peace keeping missions 
      such as that in East Timor.
            /// END ACT ///
In East Timor, Australia and other Asian nations 
deployed thousands of soldiers to help quell an ethnic 
rampage by armed militia groups in territory claimed 
by Indonesia.  The U-S military provided communication 
facilities, intelligence, and helped fly soldiers and 
supplies into the area.
Only a small number of Americans ended up on the 
ground in East Timor.  Mr. Cohen met with the South 
African Defense Minister in Pretoria following earlier 
meetings with members of Parliament and President 
Thabo Mbeki. (Signed)
NEB/JR/LTD-T/gm
TEXT:
NEB/WTW/ 
15-Feb-2000 15:09 PM EDT (15-Feb-2000 2009 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
.