VICTORIA, Seychelles, A regional maritime exercise focused on fighting illicit trafficking and enhancing security cooperation began in Seychelles waters yesterday. Exercise Cutlass Express 2024 is being conducted by the United States Africa Command (Africom) and brings together armed forces, coastguards, and law enforcement agencies from across the Western Indian Ocean region. The opening ceremony was attended by senior officials from the Seychelles government and the participating nations, marking the formal start of two weeks of joint training at sea and on shore.
Seychelles is hosting the exercise from February 26 to March 8, with the opening ceremony held yesterday at the Seychelles Coastguard base at Ile du Port. Representatives from participating nations gathered to mark the start of the programme, which combines at-sea training, classroom instruction, and shared capacity-building activities designed to strengthen collective maritime domain awareness. The Seychelles People Defence Force and the Seychelles Coastguard are providing personnel, vessels, and shore-based support to host the regional participants throughout the exercise window.
Officers from Seychelles, the United States, Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, Madagascar, Mauritius, Comoros, and Djibouti are taking part in the 2024 edition. The Seychelles People Defence Force and the Seychelles Coastguard are providing personnel, vessels, and shore-based support to host the regional participants throughout the exercise window. The event underlines the country strategic position in the Western Indian Ocean and its continued role as a hub for regional maritime cooperation.
Training scenarios planned for this year include search and rescue procedures, vessel boarding techniques, fisheries enforcement, and the interdiction of suspected smugglers. Organisers said the exercise is designed to improve the ability of regional partners to operate together and to share information more effectively against transnational maritime crime. The exercise will also include a combined command-post element, where officers from different agencies will work through simulated incidents in real time.
Africom officials described Cutlass Express as one of the longest-running multinational maritime exercises in Africa and said it continues to grow in scope. The Seychelles government has welcomed the opportunity to host the event and noted that the partnerships built during the exercise contribute to the country wider maritime security and to the safety of the Western Indian Ocean region as a whole. The closing ceremony is scheduled for March 8 at the same venue in Victoria.
