South African Navy warns
South Africa will send anti-piracy patrols to the waters off Mozambique and Tanzania this month, warning of a resurgence in attacks if the continent’s oceans are not policed, a senior navy official said on Thursday, according to AFP.
“Piracy is not over,” said Rear Admiral Bernhard Teuteberg, director of maritime strategy for the South African Navy on the side-lines of a conference on African maritime security. “We intend towards the end of November once again to put certain forces and assets within the northern Mozambican channel and off the coast of Tanzania,” he also said.
Piracy attacks off the coast of Somalia have plummeted to a three-year low thanks to beefed up naval patrols, but Teuteberg said that a withdrawal of patrols would allow ship hijackings to flare up again.
To protect trade as sea conditions improve with the arrival of the southern hemisphere’s summer, South Africa is moving assets to the coast of Mozambique and Tanzania.
Source: Yahoo News