Publication Date:
Wed, 2011-07-13 19:42
The dapd agency says Merkel made the offer during a visit to Angola’s capital Wednesday. She is the first German chancellor to visit the war-battered, oil-rich southern African country.
Merkel said “our aim is that regional conflicts can be pacified by regional troops.” Merkel said that Germany would help train soldiers in Angola “if it is wanted,” according to the agency.
An anti-colonial war broke out in Angola in the 1960s, and civil war followed independence from Portugal in 1975. When the fighting finally ended in 2002, Angola was left littered with land mines. The discovery of oil in recent years has yet to lift most Angolans out of poverty.
Merkel is on the second stop of a three-nation African trip.
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