MROLEX training launched for coastguards and legal officers from Kenya, Mauritius and Seychelles |02 November 2022

Brigadier Rosette officially launching the training

Coastguards and legal officers from Kenya, Mauritius and Seychelles are currently in a training called ‘Maritime Rule of Law Exercise’ (MROLEX).

Organised by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the training is being held at the Seychelles Coast Guard Base at Perseverance.

David O’Connell, project manager of Global Maritime Crime Programme, Indian Ocean West at UNODC, explained the concept of the project. “MROLEX is basically an exercise that will be a simulated operation that integrates all areas of expertise: from vessel detection (MDA), vessel boarding (MLE), prosecution of a maritime crime (legal) and with the maintenance of vessels intertwined therein to ensure operationalisation and longevity of infrastructure used in such operations.”

The experts will provide guidance and feedback to the relevant participating officers as they undertake practical application of the skills and knowledge acquired in previous GMCP trainings. This exercise is designed to integrate the skills and knowledge of previous trainings that GMCP has delivered and provide opportunities to apply them to practical problems.

The Chief of the Seychelles Defence Forces, Brigadier Michael Rosette, who officially launched the training, explained that this operation will allow country teams to apply in a practical scenario the knowledge and skills they have acquired in previous UNODC trainings.

“The exercise therefore presents an opportunity for teams to apply, learn and improve on our national efforts to combat illicit activities at sea,” Brigadier Rosette said.

Brigadier Rosette further noted that “we are all aware of the spectrum of illicit activities that plague our oceans. Drug trafficking, smuggling of migrants, weapons trafficking and illegal fishing are only a few examples of the trending crimes we are to fight against. In the spirit of regional collaboration and coordination, such an exercise affords you all an opportunity to engage with, learn from and establish working relations with your counterparts in the region”.

Lieutenant Luigi Loiseau shared that “more and more there are interventions at sea where the coastguards are arresting more civilians and we all need to be on the same page. In this training the legal officers are also with us so that when we do the arrests and collecting evidences we need to know what to look for so that a case can be filed and sued. We need to send a strong and clear message that having drugs in our waters and our neighbours’ waters will lead to severe consequences”.

Various entities – Regional Coordination Operations Centre (RCOC), the National Information Sharing and Coordination Centre (NISCC), the Regional Fusion and Law Enforcement Centre for Safety and Security at Sea (REFLECS3) assisted UNODC in preparation for this event.

The same kind of exercise will be conducted with the French speaking islands of the Indian Ocean.

Vidya Gappy

Photos: Louis Toussaint