US to send trainers for Palestinian Presidential Guard

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States will soon send trainers to help the Palestinian Presidential Guard improve its security capabilities, the US State Department said yesterday in a statement.

The training provided by the Department of State's Bureau of Diplomatic Security is part of "a series of courses" that will take place "this fall through early 2008," the statement said.

The program is part of the "framework agreement" for more than 80 million dollars the US has pledged to boost the defence needs of the Palestinians that was signed August 2 in Ramallah by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad.

The training courses for officers "will enhance the abilities of the Presidential Guard to carry out their primary function -- VIP protection," the department said in its statement.

It will "help improve the Palestinian Authority's capacity to deliver security for the Palestinian people and fight terrorism, build confidence between the parties, and ultimately help to meet the security needs of Palestinians and Israelis alike," it added.

Rice earlier this month went on a four-day tour of the Middle East to build on diplomatic momentum since Hamas's violent seizure of the Gaza Strip in mid-June, and lay the groundwork for an international peace conference called for by US President George W. Bush for later this year.