WASHINGTON, Aug 10 (AFP) - All West African soldiers the US
military will train for peacekeeping duty in Sierra Leone will have
been screened for human rights abuses, Pentagon spokesman
Kenneth Bacon announced Thursday.
   Bacon said US officials will have to make sure that there are no
human rights abusers or child soldiers in the five battalions of
Nigerian troops and the battalion of Ghanian troops the US military
will soon be training.
   As many as 200 US troops are likely to be sent to Nigeria and
Ghana to train soldiers to join the United Nations Mission in Sierra
Leone (UNAMSIL), White House and Pentagon officials said
Wednesday.
   Currently 40 US military trainers are looking into the training
and equipment needs of the Nigerian battalions, and a group of
those trainers has also traveled to Ghana to look into the needs of
the battalion that Accra has offered, Bacon said.
   "It's conceivable that we'll look at a third country as well,"
Bacon said, refusing to comment on reports that the "third country"
is to be Senegal.
   The US trainers will report back by the end of the week, Bacon
said, and recommend how many US soldiers will need to travel to
the region, as well as what type of equipment each unit will need.
   Each African unit will be vetted by US embassy officials in
their home countries, Bacon said. The same process is carried out
with the units the US military is training in Colombia, he said.
   "That vetting process will have to take place and be completed
before the training actually begins," Bacon said.
   A "child soldier" is any soldier younger than 18 who is drafted
into the military against his will, according to a United Nations
protocol on the issue. The protocol, signed by President Bill
Clinton in July, allows teens as young as 15 to join an army
voluntarily, but urges signatory nations to bar them from combat
until they turn 18.
   US officials are also helping Nigeria 'rebuild' their fleet of
large C-130 military transportation airplanes under a separate
program, Bacon said.
   Each African battalion has around 800 soldiers, bringing the
total number of soldiers US forces will train to around 5,600.
   The US military trainers -- likely to be mostly Special Forces
soldiers from Fort Bragg, North Carolina -- could be in the region
for up to ten months depending on how much training each unit
needs, a Pentagon official said Wednesday.
   US forces will also provide equipment such as light vehicles and
small weapons, but no tanks or artillery, the official said, speaking
on condition of anonymity.

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