Mozambique to help Kenya fight pirates

Mozambique has expressed willingness to help Kenya combat piracy in the Indian Ocean.

Defence minister Filipe Nyusi said in Maputo Tuesday that extending the collaboration to Kenya would generate greater effectiveness in the fight against the menace in the Mozambique Channel.

Mr Nyusi was addressing military attaches in the Mozambican capital.

"Currently, we share the activities to fight piracy with South Africa and Tanzania, but we need to extend it to Kenya, to block the enemy at long range, before becoming internal threat," said Mr Nyusi.

He said fighting piracy in the Indian Ocean could fail if the regional countries acted in isolation.

"The idea is to involve all countries in the SADC strategy, with or without access to the sea, and all together fight against these evils, because all these countries are direct or indirect users of Mozambican waters and around the Mozambique Channel," said Mr Nyusi.

The Mozambican Government was concerned about the negative impact of the Somali pirates in operations, research and future exploitation of natural resources, in northern side of the country.