US, Allies in Board-and-Search Exercise in Arabian Sea

Crosswalk.com ^ | January 16 2004 | Patrick Goodenough

[knighthawk]

Pacific Rim Bureau (CNSNews.com) - The United States is leading a military exercise in the Arabian Sea this weekend that will further test the ability of a new security coalition to prevent rogue states and terrorists from transferring non-conventional weapons by sea.

The air and sea maneuver involves naval forces from Australia, Singapore, Spain, Britain and Italy, with several other countries sending observers.

The Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI), launched by President Bush last year, aims to prevent the illicit buying or selling of nuclear, chemical or biological weapons and related technology by stopping and searching suspect ships or planes.

The Arabian Sea exercise, code-named Sea Saber, will involve the detection and interception of a merchant vessel, which for the purpose of the training will be suspected to carry weapons of mass destruction-related cargo, Australian Defense Minister Robert Hill said.

Australia, which is contributing aircraft and a warship already deployed in the Persian Gulf, has been a key player in the PSI, and hosted the first multinational maritime exercise last September.

That operation, which involved U.S., Australian, Japanese and French assets, drew criticism from North Korea, a country U.S. officials have named as one of the likeliest would-be proliferators and targets of the initiative.

Pyongyang at the time called the exercises off Australia's northeast coast "reckless provocations" and warned that if actual interceptions went ahead, it could lead to "nuclear war."

In recent weeks it has emerged that at least one successful PSI interdiction has already taken place - the interception last October of a German ship carrying centrifuge parts to Libya. Tripoli has since announced it was abandoning its covert nuclear program.

"Having the military capability to deter or defeat illegal transfers of weapons of mass destruction and their precursors should be a significant deterrent," Hill, the Australian minister, said in a statement.

The original 11 members of the coalition - the U.S., Australia, Japan, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal and Spain - have been joined since last month by Canada, Turkey, Singapore, Denmark and Norway.

"Significant progress is being made in resolving and integrating legal, operational and intelligence issues associated with PSI activities," Hill said. "There is clear evidence of an increasing level of international cooperation for the PSI objectives."

The Arabia Sea was the scene of a confrontation in December 2002, when a ship flying no flag and carrying hidden North Korean missiles was intercepted by a Spanish warship acting on an American request.

Once the U.S. established that the missiles were destined for the government of Yemen rather than for Iraq or terrorist groups, it allowed the vessel to go, but the incident illustrated the potential legal difficulties involved in interdiction.

Current maritime law allows national-flagged vessels on the high seas to be stopped only in the most exceptional circumstances.

The PSI plan involves boarding and searching ships either registered in a PSI member nation, or flying a "flag of convenience" of another nation which agrees to authorize interdiction in a particular case.

In this weekend's Arabian Sea exercise, forces will reportedly forcibly board a ship at sea after gaining permission to do so by the country whose flag the ship will be flying.

Further PSI training planned for the next six months include air, sea and ground interception exercises led by Italy, France, Germany and Poland.

[knighthawk]

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