14th Exercise Cutlass Express launched |27 February 2024
Participants and guests in a souvenir photograph
50 participants from seven countries to take part
By Vidya Gappy
The 14th Exercise Cutlass Express sponsored by U.S. Africa Command (Africom) and conducted by U.S. Naval Forces Africa, was launched yesterday at the Seychelles Military Training Support Centre at Perseverance.
A total of seven countries are taking part in this exercise – Seychelles, Comoros Coast Guard, Mauritius National Coast Guard, Mozambique Marines and Navy, Somalia Coast Guard, Kenya Coast Guard and Navy and Tanzania.
The Regional Coordination of Operations Centres and National Maritime Operation Centres are also part of the exercise facilitated by officers from the United States, the European Union and Interpol. The exercise will last for two weeks.
This exercise is being done in three countries - Seychelles, Djibouti and Kenya.
Present for the launch were Seychelles’ Commander-in-Chief, President Wavel Ramkalawan; U.S. ambassador, Henry V. Jardine; ministers Sylvestre Radegonde and Errol Fonseka; members of the diplomatic corps and high officials from different defence forces.
Exercise Cutlass Express is Africom’s largest naval training exercise in the Indian Ocean. It is a multinational maritime exercise designed to assess and improve combined maritime law enforcement capacity, promote national and regional security, and bring together U.S. forces and East African nations, Western Indian Ocean nations, and other international partners to share their expertise and experience.
Brigadier Michael Rosette, Chief of Defence Forces, noted that “this exercise shows our mutual and unwavering commitment to ensuring maritime safety and security in the Indian Ocean region. Once again the Cutlass Express Exercise is providing us with an opportunity to come together, to share knowledge and learn from each other. It is through such initiatives and interactions that we continue to improve our interoperability and continue to build stronger ties with all our friendly partners”.
For his part, Ambassador Jardine commended Seychelles for its prominent role in the global fight against piracy particularly in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean.
“Seychelles has mobilised its strengths as a small island state and shown a strong determination to combat piracy and contribute to international efforts to address maritime security threats. Maritime security is of paramount importance in today’s interconnected world,” he stated.
“Our oceans and seas are vital lifelines for global trade, transportation, and economic prosperity. However, as we are all witnessing with the resurgence of piracy and conflict in the Red Sea, our waterways are vulnerable to a wide range of threats, including piracy, terrorism, illegal fishing, smuggling and environment disasters. It is our responsibility, as nations and as global partners, to safeguard these precious resources,” added the US ambassador.
Rear Admiral Calvin M. Foster noted that during the two-week exercise, the participants will be able to engage in realistic scenarios that stimulate complex challenges they may encounter in safeguarding the maritime domain.
“It is all about the blue economy. These exercises are to make sure that we share our visions and our information. Unless we share our information, we cannot be secure. We will do realistic exercises and the most important thing is to punish those doing the illegal activities. This will be a feature in this training on how to prosecute these people. We face the same challenges – illegal fishing, narcotic trafficking among others and we face the same in America. We will synchronize our systems in order to better protect our oceans.”
During the ceremony there was also exchange of gifts between Brigadier Rosette and Rear Admiral Foster.
Photos by Joena Meme
