Pune: The eighth joint military exercise between the Indian Army and Seychelles People’s Defence Forces is scheduled from February 24 to March 4 at Mahe Island, Seychelles. The exercise is named ‘Lamitye’ which in the local dialect ‘Creole’, means friendship. 

This exercise is the 8th in the series of bilateral exercises being conducted in the beautiful island nation.

India and Seychelles have been conducting this joint exercise since 2001, with the aim of enhancing military cooperation and interoperability between the armies of the two countries. The focus of the ongoing exercise is to conduct counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism operations in a semi-urban environment, under the United Nations (UN) charter. 

The nine-day event will see the contingents hone their tactical and technical skills in countering insurgency and terrorism in UN Peacekeeping scenario, involving the activation of the joint operations centre of the Seychelles People’s Defence Force.

The Seychelles People’s Defence Force will be represented by a total of 52 personnel from their Special Forces Unit, Coast Guard and the Air Force, whereas an infantry platoon from the Pune-headquartered Southern Command will represent the Indian Army.

Use of state-of-the-art equipment for surveillance and tracking, specialist weapons for close quarter battle with terrorists, use and detection of improvised explosive devices as well as the latest communication equipment will be fielded during the exercise. 

The contingents will train, plan and execute a series of well-developed combined tactical drills for neutralisation of likely threats that may be encountered in UN peacekeeping operations, keeping in view the prevalent insurgency and piracy environment. The exercise will focus on achieving optimum cohesion and interoperability in accomplishing common military objectives.