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Seychelles Foreign Military Assistance
Seychelles traditionally received foreign military
assistance
from numerous nations, including Tanzania, India, the
former
Soviet Union, North Korea, and the United States. Of
these,
Tanzania has been Seychelles' most important military
ally. The
two countries initiated military relations shortly after
René
established the People's Militia; twelve Tanzanian
military
advisers arrived in Seychelles to help train the militia.
By 1980
the TPDF maintained an estimated 140-member contingent on
Seychelles, including a 30-member training team. After the
expulsion of French technicians in 1979, Tanzania
reinforced its
presence in Seychelles. In June 1979, Seychellois military
units
participated in a joint exercise with TPDF and Malagasy
units. On
November 26, 1981, the day after Colonel Hoare's coup
attempt
failed, 400 TPDF personnel started patrolling Mahé
International
Airport and the coast to prevent a return of Hoare's
mercenaries.
According to some Western observers, the intervention of
Tanzanian military personnel during the August 1982 SPDF
mutiny
probably saved the René regime.
India has been one of René's oldest military allies. On
June
5, 1982, India gave Seychelles two Chetak helicopters as a
Liberation Day gift for the people's air force; after one
crashed, Bombay provided another. By the early 1990s, the
Indian
presence in Seychelles included a colonel who managed the
Seychelles Defense Academy, and two police advisers.
Between 1979 and 1990, the former Soviet Union provided
an
array of military aid to Seychelles, including small arms,
ammunition, SA-7 surface-to-air missiles, artillery,
patrol
boats, and petroleum. Additionally, the former Soviet
Union
deployed an unknown number of Soviet military and
technical
advisers to Seychelles. By December 1990, changing
political
conditions in Moscow forced the former Soviet Union to
terminate
its military aid program and withdraw all its advisers
from
Seychelles. In exchange for aid provided, the former
Soviet Union
hoped to gain access to Seychelles naval ports. However,
although
he allowed Soviet warships to make port calls, René never
signed
a formal access agreement with Moscow.
By 1983 North Korea had deployed a fifty to
sixty-member
military advisory team to Seychelles. These personnel
assumed
responsibility for training the SPLA. Unconfirmed reports
also
indicated that the North Koreans instructed the
Presidential
Guard. By 1988, according to Michel, the North Koreans had
departed Seychelles.
The United States provided security assistance to
Seychelles
to retain access to the United States Air Force Tracking
Station
at La Misére. Aid activities focused on the IMET program,
civic
action, and coastal security. Since FY 1984, a small
number of
Seychellois military personnel have attended IMET courses
in
technical and professional areas such as communications
and
studied at infantry and command and staff level military
schools.
Other training include basic infantry, naval, and coast
guard
operations courses. During the early 1990s, the United
States
hoped to expand its security assistance to the Seychelles
to
include biodiversity, air-sea rescue, explosives ordinance
disposal, and military working dog training.
Since the end of the Cold War, Seychelles increasingly
has
relied on India and the United States for foreign military
assistance. France also has provided some maintenance aid
to the
Seychellois coast guard. Some Western observers maintain
that,
with the establishment of diplomatic relations, South
Africa
could initiate a military aid program in Seychelles within
a few
years.
Data as of August 1994
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