Sri Lanka is ready to deploy a Naval warship to join the fleet of other Naval warships from few other countries aimed at protecting the international merchant vessels travelling sea lanes from Houthi militant rebels.
Navy Media Spokesman Captain Gayan Wickramasuriya told Daily News yesterday (9), that the Sri Lankan Naval warship is on standby to be deployed to provide protection to the international waters that covers the Red Sea,
Arabian Sea, Gulf of Aden and other adjacent maritime sea lanes used by merchant vessels carrying import and export goods from one country to another.
Sri Lanka is deploying its first naval warship to join the US led combined naval force by a group of countries in the ongoing “Operation Prosperity Guardians” mission at the Red Sea, Arabian Sea, Gulf of Aden and adjoining trade routes to protect merchant ships from Houthi militant rebel attacks from Yemen, Captain Wickramasuriya said.
He further said that the Sri Lanka Navy warship is being deployed based on the President’s directive, mainly due to the impact it will have on import and export prices if the merchant vessels have to come to Sri Lanka and return via the far route through South Africa, avoiding the Red Sea and adjoining sea lanes, where as a result the merchant vessels’ insurance charges will rise which will directly affect our economy. However, he said that an exact date of deployment is not yet fixed or confirmed.
Captain Wickramasuriya said that the placement of the vessel in the affected sea areas will be decided after security discussions held, based on the warship’s capability and other critical factors including the safety of the vessel, as the threat level is somewhat different from the usual Sri Lankan Navy deployed warship operations in the high seas engaged in raids conducted to prevent drug trafficking in the international waters of Southern Sri Lanka. He said that based on the discussions that will be held, the warship will be deployed to any one of the sea lanes that require protection from the Houthi militant rebels carrying out attacks from Yemen.
Varuna Dayaratne