Washington, June 14: The United States is on the verge of beginning a military aid programme for Kenya and Zaire under which those two nations would become the first African countries below the Sahara (besides Angola) to receive weapons and military training from the U.S.

Reports reaching here from Brussels said the U.S. Defence Secretary, Mr. Donald Rumsfeld, who was attending meetings at the NATO headquarters was now en route to Nairobi and Kinshasa, to discuss with African leaders there, their military equipment needs.

The Rumsfeld trip to Africa, which comes not long after the Secretary of State, Dr. Kissinger’s own visit to that continent, apparently has more or less the same purpose — prevent African nations from going the Angola way into the Soviet orbit of influence.

But while Dr. Kissinger sought to do this by diplomatic means and by promising moral and economic support to the Africans’ struggle against white oppression in such places as Rhodesia, Namibia and South Africa, Mr. Rumsfeld apparently is trying to achieve the same thing by promising American military aid to selected African countries which perceive a need for them as security against neighbours who have Soviet connections.

There is a Soviet presence in Somalia which is Kenya’s north-eastern neighbour. Zaire borders Angola, whose leaders have not forgotten that Zaire backed the pro-Western rebels during the recent civil war. While Zaire is said to be seeking American anti-tank weapons for ground defence, Kenya is said to be interested in U.S. fighter aircraft.