Mozambique, the United States, and Partner Nations to Participate in Joint Maritime Exercise to Combat Illicit Trafficking

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Mozambique, the United States, and Partner Nations to Participate in Joint Maritime Exercise to Combat Illicit Trafficking

4:38 CAT | 28 Jan 2019

In file CoM

Within the framework of the existing multilateral partnership between the Republic of Mozambique, the United States of America and other partner countries, a Joint Military Exercise called Cutlass Express 2019 will be held to provide training in Combating Illicit Trafficking, Maritime Piracy and interception of vessels engaged in illegal fishing.

Armed forces of the Mozambican Navy, the United States of America and fifteen other nations will begin on January 29 an eleven-day maritime exercise in the city of Pemba, Cabo Delgado Province and end on February 7, 2019. The Cutlass Express 2019 exercise also includes the holding of a Symposium of Senior Leaders in Maputo from February 4 to 7, 2019, co-organized with the African Center for Strategic Studies.

The exercise was designed to enhance multilateral cooperation amongst naval forces operating in the Indian Ocean and will focus on developing skills involved with identification, boarding, and searching suspect vessels at sea.

The illicit trafficking of narcotics, flora and wildlife, and human beings is a continuing challenge for Mozambique, the United States and partner countries around the world. It should be noted that, along with eleven other East African and Indian Ocean nations, Mozambique signed the Jeddah Amendment to the 2017 Djibouti Code of Conduct which offers it the possibility of building national and regional capacities allowing it to address wider security issues as a basis for sustainable development of the maritime sector.

Through its sponsorship and facilitation of the Cutlass Express 2019, the United States is supporting the implementation of the Jeddah Amendment. The Cutlass Express exercise changes location each year, with 2019 representing the ninth year of a maritime exercise to enhance cooperation and interoperability amongst the military forces of partner nations.

Source: US Embassy: Press release