Cutlass express 2018 Seychelles hosts annual multi-national maritime exercise |01 February 2018
Seychelles is hosting the annual multi-national maritime exercise dubbed Cutlass Express.
Cutlass express is funded by U.S. Africa Command (Africom) and conducted by U.S. Naval Forces Africa (Navaf). It is designed to assess and improve combined maritime law enforcement capacity and promote national and regional security in East Africa, inform planning and operations.
It is the seventh year that this exercise is taking place and for this year there are two operational areas for this exercise -- Djibouti and Seychelles.
A total of 17 countries are taking part such as Mauritius, Madagascar, Comoros, Tanzania, Kenya, Mozambique, Djibouti.
The exercise was officially launched at the National Coast Guard base, Ile Perseverance by the Seychelles People’s Defence Forces (SPDF) chief of staff Colonel Michael Rosette in the presence of the US chargé d’affaires for Mauritius and Seychelles Dr Melanie Zimmerman, exercise director Captain Rich Thorpe, officer in charge of Seychelles operation area Captain Christopher Ross, officer in tactical control Captain Matt Lehman, officers from regional navies, coastguards and maritime agencies.
In her opening remarks, Dr Zimmerman said the scope of this exercise is ambitious, yet achievable.
“Cutlass Express aims to build partner nations’ capability to deter illicit activity of all types, including piracy, trafficking of persons, drugs and weapons, and illegal fishing. The security aspect alone is reason enough to hold this exercise. But it is important to note the economic aspect as well. Ensuring security, safety, and freedom of navigation in the waters surrounding Africa is critical to Africa’s prosperity and its access to global markets,” she said.
She also noted that their efforts during this exercise will directly contribute to making the region a safer place for maritime commerce and increasing prosperity throughout the region.
“A key goal of Cutlass Express is to develop lasting relationships in the region. This exercise enables people from different countries to get to know each other, trust each other, help each other, and learn from each other about how to work together effectively to achieve success. These strong relationships lead directly to better partnerships that strengthen regional cooperation and security,” she said.
She said networking is equally as important as learning.
“This exercise is an excellent opportunity to form strong friendships that will be valuable to you personally and professionally. Be willing to meet new people, and be willing to learn from them,” she said.
Col. Rosette said Seychelles will be contributing three ships and two aircraft to this exercise while Madagascar brought their ship Trozona, the Mauritius National Coastguard came with one Dornier aircraft, France with the presence of naval ship Champlain and Australian naval ship HMAS Warramunga from CMF.
“Such exercises, with Cutlass Express in particular, whereby maritime forces work side-by-side, is continually proving to be an effective means of synchronising standard operating procedures and adopting best practices, that eventually translate in successes against real world scenarios,” he said.
He said a senior leaders seminar will also be held where participating nations will discuss pertinent issues relating to the promotion of national maritime strategies and the development of operational concept and capabilities to operationalise maritime strategy.