He said NATO, which has been providing "airlifting support" for the African Union peacekeeping missions in Darfur and Somalia, can do more if asked to, but should not be seen as the global policeman.

Africa should play its part, said the head of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) during a visit to Ghana at the behest of President John Kufuor.

"We respond to requests put forward by the African Union. We do not see ourselves as a global policeman.

"We are not seeking to impose ourselves, nor do we pretend that we have the answers to all of Africa's security problems. This is why we strongly support the principle of African ownership.

"We need African solutions for African problems," the NATO chief said in a speech delivered at the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Center, in Accra, Ghana.

He said NATO has also agreed to assist in the creation of an African Standby Force (ASF), an AU force envisaged to be ready to deploy in case of an outbreak of conflict on the continent.

Lately, he said as NATO fosters even closer relations with the continent, it has accepted a United Nations request to help fight piracy off the coast of Somalia.

"Just a few weeks ago... NATO vessels started to escort ships from the World Food Programme off the coast of Somalia, and to protect them against pirates," he said.

"And we have also acted upon a request by the African Union for similar support, in order to escort their logistic supplies into Somalia."

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