Participation of the Spanish Marine Corps in the ‘Africa Partnership Station 2015’ initiative

Last Saturday a 5-strong Marine Corps team from the ‘Tercio de Armada’ departed from Morón Air Base towards Ghana to participate in the Africa Partnership Station (APS) 2015 initiative on board the USS ‘Spearhead’.

Between the months of February and April, APS will conduct a series of activities in Ghana, Sao Tome, Angola, Cameroon and Gabon, including the multinational maritime exercise OBANGAME EXPRESS-15 in the Gulf of Guinea, focused on counter-piracy and maritime security operations.

This initiative intends to provide military and cooperative security assistance to regional coastal nations to enhance security and stability in the area by improving maritime security capabilities of west-African nations.

The APS initiative started in 2006 as a result of a maritime conference in West Africa, where local leaders expressed their interest in enhancing their capabilities to successfully monitor their own territorial waters setting up a stable maritime environment.