Southern Africa launches peacekeeping brigade

LUSAKA, Aug 17 (Reuters) Southern African leaders launched a peacekeeping brigade today as part of a planned African standby force to be deployed on peace missions and to tackle disarmament and humanitarian crises on the continent.

Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa officially launched the brigade and inspected troops in front of regional heads of state at a summit of the 14-member Southern African Development Community in Lusaka.

''The SADC brigade shall ... serve in peace-building efforts including post conflict disarmament and demobilisation and humanitarian assistance to alleviate the suffering of civilian populations in conflict areas and support efforts on major natural disasters,'' Mwanawasa told a ceremony.

The peacekeeping brigade, part of an Africa-wide effort to form an operational standby force by 2010, is expected to rapidly deploy in areas for a ''limited duration'', with a mandate from the United Nations, African Union or SADC.

Southern African heads of state are meeting in Lusaka this week to consider ways to address a political and economic crisis in neighbouring Zimbabwe.

REUTERS ARB KN1655