Kenya and India in deal to boost maritime security

Kenya has struck a deal with India to boost maritime surveillance and share security intelligence amid raging boundary disputes and growing global terrorism threats.

The agreement, reached during President Uhuru Kenyatta’s two-day visit to India last week, means that the two countries will share white shipping information and conducting joint hydrographic surveys.

White shipping agreements enable partner states to establish an information network allowing their navies to exchange information about ships in their oceanic territories.

Under the protocol, ships will be colour-coded based on their use — commercial, military or illegal — in efforts to enhance response against threats, offer quicker decisions and authorisation of different vessels.

Hydrographic surveys involve measurement and description of features affecting maritime navigation, dredging, offshore oil drilling, maritime construction and related activities. “Both sides agreed to enhance cooperation in areas of maritime surveillance, maritime security; sharing of white shipping information and joint hydrographic surveys,” reads the India-Kenya joint statement prepared by their Foreign Affairs ministries.

In September last year, two Indian warships docked at the Kenyan coast in what was seen as an official signal to renew maritime security cooperation between the two states.

Share experiences

At the time, officials said the naval vessels were on a mission to share experiences in combating threats of maritime terrorism and piracy with Kenyan security agencies.

In 2014, three Indian warships visited Mombasa as part of an overseas deployment.

In February last year, Kenya signed a similar pact with Denmark in yet another agreement aimed at helping the east African state boost its maritime surveillance capability.

The agreement with India comes as Kenya and Somalia take their dispute at the International Criminal Court (ICC) over a potentially lucrative triangular stretch of 100,000 square kilometres of offshore territory believed to contain large oil and gas deposits.

Somalia wants the court to define the maritime boundary and to determine the exact geographical coordinates as an extension of its south-eastern land border.

In the matter that started in 2014, Kenya wants the border to run parallel along the latitude line on its eastern border.
At the centre of the disagreement are six oil blocks: L-21, L-23, L-24, L-25 and L-5, which Somalia argues that Kenya has awarded contracts to foreign prospecting firms even though they “lie entirely or predominantly on the Somalia side”.

Mr Kenyatta and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi also agreed to work together to encourage their respective public and private companies to explore trade and investment opportunities. Both sides also agreed to work on improving the ease of doing business in their respective countries to boost investments.