India is willing to assist Mozambique in the fight against piracy, as long as the Mozambican government specifies the areas in which it needs help.This guarantee was given in Maputo on Monday by the new military attaché at the Indian embassy, Prashant Chowdhry. He said the question of piracy in the Indian Ocean is also a matter of concern for the Indian government, and for the international community in general. “We share Mozambique’s concern about piracy, because piracy is a threat”, said Chowdhry, speaking to reporters after he had delivered his letters of accreditation to Defence Minister Filipe Nyussi. “We are willing to make available patrol boats, warships and aircraft for maritime inspection”.“We are open to supporting Mozambique, if the government tells us what are the specific area it would like us to work in”, he added. It was the Indian navy which in March rescued 12 Mozambicans who had been kidnapped by Somali pirates. The pirates seized the Mozambican fishing ship, the “Vega 5”, on 27 December, took it into Somali waters, and turned it into a pirate mother ship from which pirate skiffs attacked merchant shipping in the Arabian Sea.Two Indian warships engaged the “Vega 5” in a gun battle on 12 March, during which a fire broke out on board the Mozambican ship, and pirates and crew members alike jumped overboard. The Indian ships picked up 74 people from the “Vega 5” – 61 prates and 13 members of the original crew, 12 Mozambicans and one Indonesian. A further seven Mozambicans and two Indonesians are missing, feared lost at sea.Manuel Mazuze, assistant national director for defence policy in the Defence Ministry, said that Mozambique and India can cooperate in protecting shipping in the Indian Ocean, and in military training.Chowdhry is the first military attache that the Indian authorities have posted to Mozambique. Mazuze said his appointment was a sign of the high level of cooperation in the defence area between India and Mozambique.He was one of four military attaches accredited by Nyussi – the others are from South Africa, Botswana and Brazil.
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