High-ranking military officials and security experts meet in Windhoek until late Friday to discuss means to lessen the impact of HIV/Aids on soldiers and armies of SADC countries, since the disease poses a security threat for Southern Africa.

It I believed that defence forces of Southern Africa have an infection rate between 25 and 40 percent.

"This results in absenteeism of infected soldiers, bad health and eventual death not only of rank and file soldiers, but also of experienced high-ranking officers", said Prof. André du Pisani from the University of Namibia. This had an effect on how well defence forces could perform or not in times of crisis and if they could keep general military standards.

Currently Namibia chairs the SADC Organ for Politics, Defence, and Security. SADC wants to establish a regional standby force and has to address the Aids pandemic since soldiers are most vulnerable to HIV infections. The African Union also wants to create a continental standby force by 2010, dividing it into 5 sub-regions of brigades with 3,000 to 4,000 troops each and a 6th brigade stationed at the AU headquarters in Addis Ababa. Military experts of the AU and SADC have to

Harmonise their efforts for the standby-forces and implement AIDS management in then military.