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First US warship docks in Mozambique in EAfrica visit
Maputo (AFP) Feb 7, 2009 An American warship has docked in Maputo for the first time as part of a maritime security training partnership along the east African coast, where piracy has lent new urgency to the venture, the US navy said Saturday. "We have commenced the first visit of the east coast of Africa with the visit of the USS (Robert G) Bradley," said Rear Admiral William Loeffler about the warship's mission under the African Partnership Station (APS) initiative. The USS Bradley will travel to Tanzania, Kenya and Djibouti after Mozambique, where it docked Friday for a nine-day visit. The 4,100-tonne vessel is the first US warship to tie up pier side in Mozambique, said Loeffler, who is also the first American naval admiral to visit Maputo in recent history. "Our efforts are to improve maritime safety and security for Mozambique as it occupies a strategic place on the southeast coast of Africa," he told a media briefing. Two Mozambican junior officers and five enlisted sailors will also travel with the USS Bradley up the east African coast separate from the training exercises, Loeffler said. Piracy along the Somali coast was added reason for international maritime co-operation, he said. "Somalia is a multifaceted challenge that the international community is doing its best to deal with. What has happened in Somalia is indicative of what can happen where there is a lack of governance," he said. "By all accounts they are being successful in reducing the number of piracy acts but this is also a reason why it is important for navies and governments to work together." While American warships have visited east African ports for years, the USS Bradley is the first under the APS programme which aims to build maritime safety and security in Africa with local navies. The USS Nashville is currently stationed in the Gulf of Guinea in west Africa under the initiative, with staff from various European and African countries. The Mozambican navy is battling illegal fishing, estimated at an annual loss of 38 million dollars (29 million euros), and human trafficking, among other challenges. The USS Forrest Sherman previously anchored off-shore in 2007 for training with the Mozambican navy. Share This Article With Planet Earth
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