Nairobi — The safety and security in the waters surrounding Africa is critical to maintaining a stable and secure global environment, a top United States military official has said.
Rear Admiral Chase Patrick, the Director of Maritime Headquarters at US Naval Forces Europe-Africa, at the U.S. Sixth Fleet, said Thursday in a virtual press briefing that the US is committed to supporting African initiatives and solutions to shared maritime challenges.
This, he said can be best achieved when leaders can communicate directly with each other.
He noted that the Joe Biden administration is committed to being a reliable and long-term partner in Atlantic Africa and the entire continent.
"But due to the very large size of the continent and the complexities that - of the security situations within every country, we also recognize that no one country can provide, yeah, that safety and security across the continent alone," Rear Admiral Patrick who oversees all Africa partnership station exercises in West, North, and East Africa, which includes Obangame, Phoenix, and Cutlass Express.
Rear Admiral Patrick, who recently had engagements in Nigeria and Senegal, made the remarks while speaking on the progress of Exercise Obangame Express 2023, one of three African regional "Express" series exercises sponsored by U.S. Africa Command and facilitated by U.S. Naval Forces Europe and Africa.
During this year's Exercise Obangame Express, Rear Admiral Patrick said they recognized that exchanging ship-boarding techniques is not enough to tackle transnational maritime crimes.
To seal these gaps, Admiral Patrick said that they incorporated training on proper reporting and collecting of evidence.
"This year we included several training opportunities for maritime and police forces to practice and demonstrate the proper collection and reporting of evidence. Judicial prosecution helps to close the loop on all the hard work that's being done at sea by our boarding teams," he said.
During the exercise, Rear Admiral Patrick stated that personnel from the US Coast Guard law enforcement team and the United States Army Special Forces teamed up with their African partners on compliance and entry measures, with assistance from other agencies such as Interpol who provided training on database prosecution techniques.
"We also believe that the diversity of the U.S. Naval Force is our strength, and we're really proud to be able to showcase that. This year we had sailors return to their birth countries to not only train with partners, but to bridge language and cultural barriers," he said.
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He noted that these types of experiences are critical to the building relationship with the US African partners.
In regards to the East African nations, Rear Admiral Patrick said their main vehicle for cooperation and training is their Cutlass Express Exercise that occurs in the March time frame.
The exercise he says is aimed at improving the ability of East African Naval forces to cooperate regionally, improve their maritime domain awareness and improve their ability to interdict any vessels that might be engaged in illicit activity on the high seas.
"We do, during the Cutlass Express exercise, have the U.S. Coast Guard law enforcement detachment who are going to be participating to help do partner training. So that's the general design of that exercise and engagement with East Africa," he said.
