Showing the flag

Reported as Navy destroyer makes historic African visits:

A U.S. Navy ship pulled into Tanzania this month for the first time in 40 years as the 6th Fleet continues its push for maritime security in and around African nations.

The guided missile destroyer USS Forrest Sherman called on Dar es Salaam on Sept. 5 before sailing south to make another notable port visit to Moroni, Comoros, a week later, according to recent Navy press releases.

“Peaceful, secure and prosperous seas are in everyone’s best interest,” said Capt. Nicholas Holman, addressing a group of diplomats and Tanzanian government and military officials, a release stated. “We look forward to building a strong partnership with Tanzania and working together to achieve this very important goal.”

A few years ago, Naval Forces Europe/6th Fleet began a maritime security push to enhance a naval presence in African waters to the south of Europe and the Black and Caspian seas to the east.

The aim is that those nations’ militaries establish stability on their own for their respective nations, which in turn would breed stability throughout the world. If vulnerable nations can protect themselves, Navy leaders have said, the United States won’t have to.

The visit to Comoros, a nation of three islands in the Mozambique Channel between Madagascar and the east coast of Africa, marked the first time a U.S. Navy ship visited in more than 30 years.

“We look forward to partnering with Comoros and other countries in Southeast Africa to combat maritime security threats like piracy, unlawful fishing and smuggling,” Holman said in a release.

UPDATE: And more on a ship visit to the Philippines here:

While the United States continued to support the Philippines in its anti-terrorism efforts, a US Navy official denied on Sunday that the presence of a US Navy spy ship in Cebu had something to do with the conflict in the southern Philippines.


Captain Steven Lott, commanding officer of the USS Chosin, a guided missile cruiser said their presence in Cebu was for a "social visit" before leaving on Monday for their homeport in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

Lott said the visit was part of the continued cooperation between the US and Philippine governments, especially to foster good relations with their local counterparts.

He said two other US navy ships have been anchored in Manila but USS Chosin, a 9,600-ton ship, chose to come to Cebu after visiting Hong Kong to meet with their counterparts in the Naval Forces Central (Navforcen), the Philippine Navy command that covered Visayas.
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"Our visit here is purely a social visit. Our government is extending assistance to the Philippines especially in the war in Mindanao but our presence here has nothing to do with what's happening in Mindanao right now," he said.

Spy ship? Hardly.

But maybe this quote suggested that idea:

"What we are mostly doing is to conduct anti-terrorism activities. We do surveys on the area, tracking down other ships, submarines and see what's down there. So far in the Philippines, it has nothing to worry (about terrorist attacks)," he said.

Japan aid to the Philippines

Japan to help the Philippines out, as reported here:

apan announced on Tuesday more than 11 million dollars in financial assistance to the Philippines to implement disaster prevention and maritime security projects.
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The first grant, worth 779 million yen (6.53 million dollars), would be used to fund a project improving flood forecasting and warnings system in the northern Philippine province of Pampanga.

The project, to be implemented by the Philippines' weather bureau, will provide technical support for improving the system operation for flood forecasting and disaster prevention.

The second project, to be funded by a 609-million-yen grant, would improve and enhance the capability of the Philippine coast guard for search and rescue as well as counter-terrorism.

'The project will establish satellite communications systems in 11 stations nationwide,' the embassy statement said. 'Twenty-four stations ... will also be equipped with VHF/HF radio system.'

Communicaions is always good.

UPDATE: U.S. offers to help fight terrorism, too, and Australia is in the mix, as set out here:

The United States military is willing, if requested by the government, to help the Philippine Armed Forces fight the communist New People's Army in addition to its current assistance to defeat the Abu Sayyaf terrorists in Mindanao.
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Keating said the US military is focusing efforts on the defeat of the Abu Sayyaf. A number of US forces are in Mindanao to provide technical assistance in identifying whereabouts of terrorist leaders in the region.

On the possible violation of Philippine sovereignty if they help fight the communists, Keating said: “We’re very careful about sovereignty issue and it is only in response to the Philippine government request that we respond."

The RP-US Mutual Defense Board and Security Exchange Board re-affirmed its commitment under the RP-US Mutual Defense Treaty to “defend one another against common threats and we will continue to cooperate in responding to various security concerns in the region."
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At the same time, Armed Forces chief Gen. Hermogenes Esperon Jr. said the military establishment is looking forward to trilateral exercises between Filipino, United States and Australian forces in the near future.

“We expect that there will be an expansion from bilateral activities to multilateral where it is legally permissible," said Esperon in a joint press conference with Admiral Keating.

Filipino and US forces have been jointly training for the past decades, with focus redirected recently on the fight against terrorist organizations, particularly the Abu Sayyaf Group and the Jemaah Islamiyah.

President Arroyo and Australian Prime Minister John Howard signed a Status of Visiting Forces Agreement last month that will govern the conduct of joint military training for the two countries’ military forces. The agreement awaits ratification by the Senate.

“We will do it (trilateral exercises) as addressing security threats cannot be limited to bilateral arrangements. On matters of terrorism for example, that could be global, multilateral. There are benefits in working together because that saves us time and resources," Esperon said.

He said neighbors in the region have been engaging in multilateral exercises with other countries and he sees nothing wrong with the Philippines adopting the same strategy. “In the region, we see a lot of multilateral activities, trainings, exchange of information and we (military establishment) don’t see any reason why we could not go to that direction," he said.