LUANDA, Oct. 12 (Xinhuanet) -- An Angolan military officer announced in Luanda the joint CPLP military maneuvers planned to begin Tuesday in Angola have been postponed to Thursday due to delays in the arrival of some of the contingents.

    The officer said special forces units from Mozambique and East Timor had already arrived and a Portuguese Air Force plane bringing contingents from Portugal, Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde for the Felino 2004 exercises was expected later Tuesday. The Brazilian contingent, was scheduled to arrive Wednesday, he added.

    The fourth joint maneuvers of the Community of Portuguese- speaking Countries (CPLP), originally set for Oct. 12-16 and involving some 600 elite troops from the eight-nation organization,centers on peacekeeping and humanitarian missions.

    Portuguese ambassador in Luanda, Francisco Xavier Esteves, saidlast week that Angola's hosting of the event was "evidence that the transition" of Angola's Armed Forces was "advancing" since theend of the country's civil war in 2002.

    He said, "It is significant that Angola offered and feels capable of hosting and organizing an exercise of this dimension."

    Felino 2004 exercises will take place at Cabo Ledo on the Atlantic coast some 120 kilometers south of Luanda. The exercise aims to hone joint military planning, command, control and performance by special forces in humanitarian and peacekeeping tasks.

    The exercises will involve some 500 Angolan special forces and all three of Luanda's military branches, along with units from theother CPLP states. Portugal hosted the first two Felino exercises in 2000 and 2001. Brazil staged the third last year, and Cape Verde is scheduled to host the event in 2005. Enditem