Somali security forces receive Italian rafts
Somali security forces have taken delivery of four ex-Italian Navy rafts from the Italian Ministry of Defence.
The vessels, which can carry up to 15 people, will be used for patrolling Somali ports and coastline.
The vessels have been delivered as part of a wider government effort to reconstruct and stablise Somalia, within the framework of the European EUTM Somalia mission and Regional Maritime Capacity Building in the Horn of Africa and the Western Indian Ocean.
The waters around Somalia remain a security risk to transiting vessels. The area is still patrolled by a number of national and international naval assets, including assets from counter-piracy operation Eunavfor Atalanta, and the European Union mission which, since March, includes Italian Navy frigate Espero.
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