Brazil rejects US interference in South American Defence Council

Rio De Janerio, Nov 21 (Xinhua) Brazil has rejected possible US interference in the South American Defence Council which will be formed next year.

'It is not necessary for South America to import the US model and the region is capable of creating its own defence system,' Brazil's Defence Minister Nelson Jobim told reporters Thursday after the 5th International Security Conference in Rio de Janeiro.

The South American Defence Council will be formed among the member countries of the South American Union of Nations (Unasur) in early 2009 following the ratification of the Unasur members.

Jobim said US Defence Secretary Robert Gates had asked him about the council during his recent visit to the country, to which he answered that 'the South American defence system is our own problem.'

The formation of the Defence Council would be the headstone of a region-wide military alliance that, according to Jobim, would not be the classical military alliance as it would not involve operational units.

The formation of this alliance has caused concern in Washington as it would be the region?s first military alliance that explicitly does not want the involvement of the US.