Djibouti is an important transit port for shipping as well as a base for refuelling
Djiboutiis cooperating withIndia closely to combat threats to shipping in the Indian Ocean from pirates based out of civil war-wracked Somalia. Djibouti is an important transit port for regional and international shipping as well as a base for refuelling.
“India has always been a significant entity in the region, as the name Indian Ocean implies. We are helping India directly as well as indirectly in the war against piracy. Indian marines are going to Djibouti and staying there two-three days before going out to sea to search for pirates,” Ambassador Youssouf Omar Doualeh, told IANS in an interview here.
“When an Indian ship was hijacked off the Somalian coast, Indian officials called me and the ship was located in two weeks,” Doualeh said, referring to the hijacking of an Indian ship in June this year.
The envoy was speaking to IANS as Djibouti City, the country’s capital, readied to host the forthcoming plenary session of the UN Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia (CGPCS). A senior official of the external affairs ministry is attending the conference begining Sunday.
“We are doing everything to combat piracy, helping to locate hijacked ships. We have also sent troops to Somalia to help stabilize the situation there and bring peace,” Doualeh, who is completing an eight-year stint as his country’s first ambassador here. “I am very proud to be Djibouti’s first ambassador to India, with which we have had significant exchanges,” Doualeh said.
