The United States is offering South Africa defence equipment and training to upgrade its forces.
Outgoing US Ambassador Cameron Hume said on Friday that South Africa has agreed to the US training and equipping two of its infantry battalions for peacekeeping duty.
Hume was speaking at the reopening of a clinic at Cottondale near Bushbuckridge in Limpopo, which has been upgraded by US and South African medical personnel participating in a joint training exercise dubbed ”Medflag”.
A source familiar with the talks said the US has spent the past eight years attracting South Africa’s interest to its African Contingency Operations Training and Assistance (Acota) programme.
Acota is a US State Department-coordinated programme that works with African states to improve peace-support operations and humanitarian assistance capabilities.
Countries that have already benefited from the programme include Benin, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Malawi and Senegal.
The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the difficulty in offering South Africa training and equipment is that it has a sophisticated domestic industry and defence force.
Many of the usual offerings, such as uniforms and radios, would be inappropriate.
Suggestions that have been made include the US instead providing South Africa with simulation equipment similar to that used at facilities such as its Joint Readiness Training Centre where army and air-force units train together against an opposing force before deploying abroad.
Other suggestions included training related to dealing with the media and using translators. — Sapa