Namibia’s President Hage Geingob opened the school in Walvis Bay, about 400 kilometers from Windhoek.
Piracy and other maritime crimes, he said, continue to threaten Africa’s seas, thus negatively affecting the continent’s ability to competitively trade with the rest of the world.
“National and regional instabilities that have allowed this scourge to fester and spread are a concern to Namibia. It is our intention to continue to participate in exercises with the navies of other littoral states of the South Atlantic, in the promotion of Maritime Security in the greater Atlantic Ocean region,” he further said.
Namibia whose coast is 1,570 kilometers long, established a navy in 1994 although it did not have a naval school.
Geingob said the strengthening of Namibia’s navy is important because during peacetime the navy has the role of augmenting civil offshore patrol forces by providing the means and expertise to execute enforcement action effectively.
During wartime, Geingob also said, the navy’s role includes surveillance and security of the county’s entire coastline, naval combat engagements, search and rescue operations, casualty evacuation, naval blockades and landward combat operations by maritime and seaborne forces. Enditem
Source: Xinhua/News Ghana
