Benin Navy OCEA 32m Coastal Patrol Craft ‘ALIBORI’
20mm cannon
OCEA-BUILT FPB 98 MK.I 32m Coaastal Patrol Craft of the Benin Navy
COTONOU
Aug. 29 (Xinhua)
U.S. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus on Tuesday arrived in Cotonou for an official visit to Benin as part of his trip to seek cooperation in fighting against terrorism, drug trafficking, maritime piracy and cross-border crimes in West Africa.
Upon his arrival at the Cardinal Bernadin Gantin International Airport in Benin’s economic capital, Mabus said he was happy to visit Benin for talks on
partnership to boost maritime security and on common strategies to fight against the security threat. The U.S. navy secretary noted that no single country in the world can claim to have the capacity to fight maritime piracy alone.
The United States, which is concerned about maritime security, is partnering with the countries within the Gulf of Guinea, especially Benin, to coordinate strategies of fighting against piracy, he
added.
In Benin, Mabus was scheduled to hold talks with senior military commanders on issues regarding the training of Benin’s armed forces for peacekeeping operations, acts of piracy in the Gulf of Guinea, maritime security and the Partnership Station for Africa.
Last year, 35 pirate attacks were carried out in Benin’s waters while no single attack was reported in 2010. Mabus arrived in Togo on Monday on a two-day visit, during which a Greek-owned oil tanker with 24 crew members on board was seized only miles off the Togolese capital Lome. This was the second attack by pirates in less than two weeks in the oil-rich Gulf of Guinea, running from Guinea on Africa’s northwestern tip to Angola in the south.
