Tanzania installs radar and AIS system to counter pirate operations

DAR ES SALAAM has installed an integrated radar and automatic identification system (AIS) coastal surveillance system with support from the UN' International Maritime Organisation (IMO) anti-piracy programmes and that of the US and Tanzania governments.

The partners spent the last 12 months delivering this system to provide a coastal picture for the Tanzanian military, as well as the civilian authorities at the Dar es Salaam Maritime Rescue Sub-Centre and at the Information Sharing Centre.

Conceived as a bilateral military project between the US and Tanzania, the IMO joined the project to integrate the system for civil and maritime law-enforcement use. The aim is to bring all maritime agencies together to counter piracy that threaten the coast of Tanzania, reports GAC Hot Port News.

The opening ceremony marked the completion of the first phase of a wider programme to provide similar systems in states bordering the Mozambique Channel and its approaches. The work is being undertaken as part of the IMO's counter-piracy programme under the Djibouti Code of Conduct funded by contributions to the Djibouti Code Trust Fund from its donors: France, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Republic of Korea, Saudi Arabia and the Marshall Islands.