E. Africa opens U.S.-backed disaster center

[Eugene]

E. Africa opens U.S.-backed disaster center
Mon Aug 15, 2005 6:34 AM ET

By C. Bryson Hull

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Eleven mainly east African nations opened a U.S.
military-funded disaster management center on Monday to boost their
ability to respond to the natural and man-made calamities that often
strike the region.

The U.S.-led project, dubbed "Golden Spear," aims mainly to increase
military and civilian coordination between countries.

The plan would be to tackle natural disasters like last year's Indian
Ocean tsunami or, more ominously, man-made devastation like the 1998
suicide bombings of U.S. embassies in the Kenyan capital Nairobi and
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

<snip>

Kenya, Djibouti, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi,
Seychelles, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Egypt are
members, and the Comoros Islands are considering joining.

Golden Spear's member nations are expected to run the network on their
own by 2007, although the United States and other donor countries are
likely to continuing financing it.

http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2005-08-15T103357Z_01_DIT538048_RTRIDST_0_INTERNATIONAL-AFRICA-DISASTERS-DC.XML