The troops of the three east African nations, Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya are to carry out a 10-day joint military training in eastern Uganda, a Ugandan military spokesman said in Kampala on Tuesday.

Major Felix Kulaigye, the army spokesman said the exercise, the third of such in two years, codenamed Hot Springs will equip over 300 military officers with skills for disaster preparedness and management.

The training, which will start on Wednesday at Gaddafi Military Barracks will involve the navy, air and land forces.

The forces will undergo training on requirements for conducting joint operations, search and rescue in the event of natural disasters or emergencies.

"As combat activities scale down, we have to enlarge our minds to adopt situations other than war for instance disaster management, terrorism and so forth," Kulaigye said.

He said the training is carried out under a memorandum of understanding between the three countries in efforts to fast track the east African federation.

Under the memorandum signed in 1998 and revised in 2001, the three governments undertook to cooperate in, among other areas, joint military training, joint operations, technical assistance, visits and information exchange.

The last two joint military exercises were both held in 2005.

The Operation Trend-Marker was held in September 2005 in Kenya focused on counter-terrorism, while Operation Ongoza Njia was conducted in February 2005 in Tanzania focused on peacekeeping operations.

(Xinhua News Agency September 20, 2006)