Djibouti's Coast Guard Mounting Effective Defence in Troubled Waterways

The Management of the Eastern Africa Standby Force paid the Djibouti Coast Guard a visit on 19th January 2018 in Djibouti city. The EASF delegation's visit was aimed at understanding the Djibouti Navy's and Coast Guard's capabilities and roles.

Alongside with the Djibouti Navy, the Coast Guard is responsible for securing Djibouti's territorial waters and 314 km seaboard as well as supporting army operations. The Coast Guard has a fleet of gunboats together with fast missile boats which can be  deployed for protection of Djibouti's coastline and tankers passing through the Bab-el-Mandeb, a strait connecting the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.

Djibouti has hosted a number of international military exercises in line with the The Djibouti Code of Conduct; this is a framework which binds 20 nations together in information sharing and joint exercises aimed at implementing best practices in enforcing the international law of the sea.

One such exercises was Cutlass Express 2017 (CE17); an exercise designed to assess and improve combined maritime law enforcement capacity and promote national and regional security in East Africa as well as inform planning and operations. The exercise tested participating nations’ ability to respond to illicit trafficking, piracy, illegal fishing and search & rescue situations. Maritime Operations Centers (MOCs) of participating nations exercised tracking and reporting procedures by use of simulating suspect vessels. Participating nations included Comoros, Djibouti, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles, Uganda, Canada, Denmark, France, The Netherlands, Turkey and the United States.

Below: A fleet of Djibouti Coast Guard Boats Salutes EASF Management