The ship will carry out various activities with the coastal marines of the area (MDE)

The 'Serviola' high patrol sailed from its base in Ferrol today, to take part in various cooperation activities on the African continent, within the framework of the Defense Diplomacy Plan and as a follow-up to the Africa Partnership Station (APS) initiative. These activities are in line with the maritime security and cooperative security operations carried out by the Ministry of Defence, JEMAD and the Navy in West Africa and the Gulf of Guinea, which were previously carried out by the 'Vencdora' and 'Sentinela' high-rise patrols in 2015, and by the 'Atalaya' in the first half of 2016. In its three months of deployment, the ship will remain integrated into the operational structure of the Armed Forces, depending on the Maritime Safety and Monitoring Command and the Operations Command. This deployment is expected to be divided into three phases. A first phase, which will be extended until mid-October, will include transit to the Gulf of Guinea and will include mutual cooperation on cooperative security with Mauritania and Senegal. In a second phase, the ship will remain deployed in the waters of the Gulf of Guinea and will carry out maritime military support activities with Ghana and Cameroon. These activities will focus primarily on identifying the risks inherent in the maritime environment of the area: terrorism, illicit trafficking, illegal immigration and piracy. To this end, joint operations will be carried out to increase mutual knowledge of the environment and thus contribute to the fight against the risks identified. In addition, the "Nemo 16.4" manoeuvres will be carried out along with the countries bordering the Gulf of Guinea under French command. The last phase will work with the Cape Verde support operation and will plan and implement maritime cooperation activities on joint monitoring of maritime areas under the sovereignty and jurisdiction of that country.