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DAKAR, Senegal -- Fifteen maritime professionals from Senegal concluded five weeks of at-sea training with a graduation ceremony held on the flight deck of the Royal Netherlands Navy Africa Partnership Station platform HNLMS Johan de Witt (L 801) here, Nov. 8.
This is the final graduation ceremony on this APS platform. Since the training commenced in Dakar, Senegal, Oct. 9, APS Johan de Witt has graduated 31 maritime professionals from Ghana and Sierra Leone.
"The training onboard Johan de Witt has been very good. From small boat operations and law enforcement to medical training, it has permitted us to see things from a different point of view and that is a good way to better our skills," said Senegalese Navy Lt. Youssouph Ly, APS medical student aboard Johan de Witt. "We are going to adapt what we learned here on APS to our system back in Senegal to better prepare our Sailors."
Classroom interaction and hands-on, skill-building exercises made up the agenda for these maritime professionals. Topics covered included small boat maintenance, small boat operations, maritime law enforcement, damage control, emergency medical training and computer software applications
"The students from the Senegalese armed forces provided 110 percent effort in the classroom and practical exercises. They take another step forward on the path as maritime professionals," said Capt. Richard Wheatley, APS training officer. "The success of the first European-led APS training deployment cannot be overstated. Working for common goals in collaboration with our European and African partners we were able to promote maritime safety and security in a meaningful and sustainable way."
APS focuses on building cooperative partnerships with regional maritime services in order to achieve common international goals such as stability and security. APS brings an international team of maritime experts including elements from Belgium, the Netherlands, Portugal and the United States to offer assistance in addressing maritime safety and security challenges such as unlawful, unregulated and illegal fishing, piracy and illicit trafficking.
The APS Johan de Witt deployment began in September and will continue through November. Port visits will include stops in Senegal, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ghana and Cape Verde.
Johan de Witt, a landing platform dock amphibious ship homeported in Den Helder, Netherlands, is the first non-U.S. ship to execute an APS deployment.
| Date Taken: | 11.08.2009 |
| Date Posted: | 11.09.2009 10:23 |
| Story ID: | 41303 |
| Location: | DAKAR, SN |
| Web Views: | 299 |
| Downloads: | 279 |
This work, Senegal Maritime Professionals Graduate on Netherlands-led APS Platform, by CPO Jason Morris, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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