Maputo — The United States on Wednesday donated an Automatic Information System (AIS), valued at 500,000 US dollars, to the Mozambican navy.

The system is intended to help the navy control Mozambican waters and identify the vessels sailing in them. This should help in identifying foreign ships that are plundering Mozambique's marine resources.

The system will function from five strategic points, and it will allow an exchange of information, in real time, with other countries, checking possible illegal situations involving foreign vessels.

At the handover ceremony, the charge d'affaires at the US Embassy, Todd Chapman, promised further support to the Mozambican Armed Forces (FADM) to strengthen their capacity to monitor the country's territorial waters. He said that the US Defence Department would shortly deliver a further half million dollars worth of computerized communications equipment for the FADM's command and control purposes.

Deputy Defence Minister Agostinho Mondlane said it was the Mozambican government's intention to build the capacity of the FADM, improving its communications equipment, which was indispensable for vigilance and monitoring of the country's waters.