Spain will dispatch 650 troops to tsunami-affected Asian countries Monday on a humanitarian mission, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said Saturday.

The troops will arrive by five planes, which will also carry 18 tons of basic relief goods like water, food and medicine, Zapatero said after meeting with Defense Minister Jose Bono and Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos.   

The 6.5 million euro (8.5 million US dollars) mission, expected to last two months, will focus on Indonesia, which was severely hit by the deadly earthquake and ensuing tsunamis last month.

Spain already has aid personnel working on the badly-hit Indonesian island of Sumatra. Its military contribution will make the country the fifth-biggest aid contributor in terms of troops

on the ground.

(Xinhua News Agency January 9, 2005)