Army 'ill-equipped' for future peace roles

WANGANUI - The New Zealand Army says it may have to reject requests to be involved in future peacekeeping operations because some of its equipment is too worn out and unreliable.

Communications and armoured support equipment is in such bad shape it cannot be used in further high-risk operations such as East Timor, Major-General Maurice Dodson said yesterday.

He said concerns about the state of the M113 armoured personnel carriers and radio communications gear were not new, and doubts about their serviceability had been expressed before the East Timor deployment.

The point had been reached where the APCs were "no longer useful on operations," General Dodson said.

At any one time only about one-third of the 25 APCs providing armoured support for New Zealand troops in East Timor were serviceable. It was a similar situation with the radios.

General Dodson said Defence Minister Mark Burton was well aware of his concerns. He was confident the Government would come through with enough funding to make a start on a staged programme to at least replace the radios and APCs.

But even if that happened soon it could take up to five years to complete even a minimal replacement programme.

Last night the Government announced it would give $500,000 to help train East Timorese officials in key Government and community services.

The grant would help the United Nations Development Programme provide flexible, short-term training and advisory services in key development areas, Associate Foreign Affairs Minister Matt Robson said.

All the critical Government functions had collapsed following the violence and the withdrawal of Indonesian Government officials. New Zealand and other countries would help the rebuilding process by offering in-country advice, training schemes and study tours for East Timorese leaders and officials.

- NZPA