Bartamaha (Nairobi) :- The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has signed a 15-million-dollar deal to boost the Seychelles’ coast guard and help the Indian Ocean archipelago combat Somali piracy, a statement said Thursday.

The UAE has agreed to fund the construction of new base on a reclamation area off the main island of Mahe for the Seychelles coast guard and provide it with five patrol boats, more than doubling the size of its fleet.

“Seychelles will be better equipped to fight pirates, and the new radar surveillance system will ensure the safe passage of fishermen and other maritime traffic,” Seychellois President James Michel said in the statement.

“We will be more capable in the detection of pirate skiffs and our readiness to respond will be amplified,” said Michel, also the island nation’s defence minister.

The announcement comes after an international symposium on piracy held in the Seychelles earlier this week.

Since the world’s naval powers started deploying warships to the Gulf of Aden in 2008 to protect the crucial waterway, Somali pirates have extended their reach further out in the Indian Ocean, notably affecting the Seychelles.

With international backing, the Seychelles — which has a population of 85,000 spread out over 115 islands — has taken a leading role in combatting Somali piracy, which threatens its vital fishing and tourism sectors.

The presidency’s statement said that the deal with the UAE was the result of talks held during a visit to Abu Dhabi by Michel. The two countries signed a memorandum of understanding on defence cooperation last year.

Emirati President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahayan, one of the world’s richest men, has recently invested large sums in several property projects in the Seychelles.

Seychellois opposition figures charge that the Abu Dhabi prince is becoming a pillar of the economy and that favours granted to him by the regime amount to 200 million dollars in loss of tax earnings over the past year alone.

Sheikh Khalifa and his partners in the Seychellois government drew public criticism over the pollution caused by the construction of a lavish palace on the highest spot of the main island of Mahe.

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Source:-AFP.

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