Canberra gives Manila riverboats to fight rebels

MANILA, May 29 (Reuters) Australia will give Manila at least 28 small aluminium-hulled boats within the year to help fight Islamic militants and communist rebels, said a defence department official today.

Maria Joji Aragon, assistant defence secretary for strategic assessment, said the river boats -- equipped with GPS and radios -- would be given to army commandos to patrol shallow marshlands in the south, where suspected Muslim militants are hiding.

''This equipment will definitely boost the capability of the army,'' Aragon told reporters at the end of two days of bilateral talks between Philippine and Australian defence officials at the main military base in Manila.

The boats, worth 4 million dollars, would be delivered late in 2007 and could also be used in shallow rivers in other parts of the country, where communist rebels have strong presence.

Aragon said the Australia had also agreed to pay for hundreds of Filipino soldiers attending advanced training and education at Australian war colleges and military institutions, allocating an annual budget of A million (3.2 million dollars) for the programme.

''The money would also be used for post-graduate courses on defence management for some of Filipino generals and colonels,'' Aragon said, adding Australia was already the largest source of military training and education.

The Philippines was getting about 3 million dollars a year in terms of army education and training funds from the United States, its close security partner and former colonial master.

Since 2000, when US troops returned to the Philippines to hold drills, Washington has already poured over 500 million dollars to the local military, mostly in second-hand helicopters, patrol boats and trucks.

Over the last four years, Australia has allocated nearly 130 million dollars in regional counter-terrorism assistance after a series of deadly bombings in Indonesia and the Philippines by Islamic militants linked to al Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiah.

Australia has been expanding security cooperation with some Southeast Asian sates to prevent Jemaah Islamiah, a regional network of militants, from carrying out bombings in the region.

On Thursday, Canberra would sign a new security deal with Manila that would allow Australian troops to hold anti-terrorism exercises in the Philippines' troubled south.

REUTERS NC HS1754