India to carry out mega naval exercise with 10 African nations in April

New Delhi: Aiming to find a toehold in Africa where China wields enormous influence, New Delhi is all set to have its maiden India-Africa multi-nation naval exercise involving ten African countries that will participate in the drill with their warships.

Some of the African nations will also be partnering with India in a unique initiative in which one of India’s naval off-shore patrol vessels - renamed as Indian Ocean Ship Sagar – will be manned by 44 crew members from ten Indian Ocean littorals and will sail for over 30 days to carry out EEZ surveys and surveillance missions.

While the Africa-India maritime drill, named Aikeyme, will take place at Dar-Es-Salaam between April 13-18, the IOS Sagar (originally INS Sunayna) will set sail from Karwar on April 5 and return to Kochi on May 8.

“We are looking at the possibility of turning the India-Africa maritime exercise into a biennial one. This time countries from the east coast of Africa are participating, but in the next edition, we will invite nations on the west coast of Africa as well,” Vice Admiral Tarun Sobti, Deputy Chief of the Naval Staff said here on Monday.

To be held between April 13-18, the drill will involve participation from Comoros, Djibouti, Eritrea, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles and South Africa in addition to the co-host Tanzania.

The Indian Navy is likely to be represented by INS Chennai (destroyer), INS Shardul (landing ship, tank) and a P8I maritime reconnaissance aircraft, whereas seven warships will come from the African nations.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will inaugurate the exercise that will also include a table-top drill on anti-piracy missions.

In the last few decades, India has been enhancing its engagement with African nations offering more financial help, scholarships and other support with a hope to further expand New Delhi’s footprint in a continent rich in natural resources. The African nations’ support is also crucial to India in multilateral fora.

With India projecting itself as the net provider of security in the Indian Ocean region, the IOS Sagar during its 30 plus days of deployment will carry out joint surveillance of exclusive economic zones of Tanzania, Mozambique, Mauritius and Seychelles besides making port calls at Dar-es-Salaam, Nacala, Port Louis, Port Victoria and Male.

This will be the second visit by an Indian Navy ship to Maldives after the regime change following INS Talwar’s visit in Nov 2024. “A humanitarian assistance and disaster relief exercise is planned in May 2025,” Vice Admiral Sobti said.