Journalist enlightened on Cutlass Express exercise 2021 |06 August 2021
Journalists from the African continent,some of whom their countries are taking part inthe Cutlass Express exercise 2021 (CE21) between the United States and the United Kingdom Naval forces in Eastern Africa,have beenenlightened on the extent of the ongoing maritime exercise.
This was during a virtual press briefing led by Rear Admiral Jeffery Spivey, the vice commander of the US Sixth Fleet and director of the maritime partnership programme; and Captain Cannon Neslen, the commanding officer of the navy reserve, maritime partnership programme, detachment 118.
The boarding, searching and seizure exercise for the 15 East African and West Indian Ocean and European and North American nations is in full swing and is taking place in the vicinity of Djibouti, Kenya, Madagascar and Seychelles. Itends today, August 6, 2021.
Held annually, the Cutlass Express exercise is designed to assess and improve combined maritime law enforcement capacity, improve regional cooperation and maritime domain awareness and information sharing between maritime operation centres and to promote national and regional security in East Africain order to better deal with maritime crimes.
Cutlass Express was established in 2011. The exercise is part of the Djibouti Code of Conduct, which is an information-sharing network in East Africa and the Western Indian Ocean nations.
Through this exercise, the US Naval forces work alongside the 15 participating nations to improve combined maritime law enforcement capacity, promote national and regional security in East Africaand increase interoperability between the US, African, and multinational partners.
The 2021 version of the training was officially launched on July 26, 2021 by Rear Admiral Jeffrey Spivey, who is the marine partnership programme officer for the US Naval Forces Europe-Africa/Sixth Fleet, during a ceremony at the Seychelles Defence Academy (SDA), Ile du Port.
Twenty-two Seychellois maritime professionals from the Seychelles Coast Guard and Special Forces Unit are taking part in the ‘visit, board, search and seizure’capacity-building exercise and small craft coxswain course being delivered by six trainers from the UK Royal Navy’s International Training Team in the Seychelles’ waters.
“Our key purpose is to enhance the information exchange and regional information-sharing with our maritime partners to improve our collective effectiveness at sea and address our primary challenges which include illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing. I can’t emphasise this point enough. It is one of the bedrocks to a funding source for illegal activity and other illicit factors at sea, namely counter narcotics,” Admiral Spivey said, noting that they are committed to building partnerships across the East Africa region to help fight maritime crimes.
Speaking on the exercise, Captain Neslen saidthroughout the Cutlass Express 2021, they have witnessed firsthand the participating nations’ improvement in the maritime domain awareness, primarily through the use of the SeaVision web-based enabled tool that has enabled an improved understanding and situational awareness of the maritime domain environment.
“Specifically this past week, we have observed and assessed eight partner nations and multinational partners in three locations execute numerous counter-illicit trafficking scenarios on East African waters. These scenarios have been really important and have focused on countering illicit arms and weapons. We have also drawn upon the expertise of our United Kingdom, India, and Georgia partners, resulting in improved partnerships and integrated efforts in countering illicit trafficking,” he said.
Cutlass Express is one of three maritime exercises held in 2021. The first was Obangame Express in the Gulf of Guinea followed by Phoenix Express in North Africa and the Mediterranean.
Patrick Joubert