Commander Birot set sail from Dakar on June 14 for Toulon, which he will reach after nearly 3 months of deployment in the Corymbe operation zone, during which he has carried out a number of cooperation actions.
The Birot embarked nearly a hundred sailors in training activities including Ivorian riflemen during the operational preparation course of the patrol boat Espérance, officers of 10 different nationalities from the ENVR ( National School with Regional Vocation ) of Tica in Equatorial Guinea , students from the Naval training center of Port-Gentil in Gabon and Beninese, Gabonese and Ivorian officers for long-term embarkations.
The French patrol boat also participated in two major multinational exercises; Obangame Express 2024 and MEGALOPS . These exercises allowed the training of visiting teams from 5 different countries by successively playing pirates, drug or arms traffickers, fishermen in violation, a polluting vessel, a ship in distress.
He contributed twice, at the beginning and end of deployment, to the training course of the brand new Ivorian patrol boat Espérance.
Fully integrated into Yaoundé ‘s maritime security architecture , the Birot has carried out several fisheries surveillance patrols which have enabled it to report numerous cases of suspected illegal fishing off the African coast.
This deployment was marked by two special operations: on the one hand, a mission to combat drug trafficking carried out in support of Ghana , as well as the rescue of 7 Angolan fishermen, adrift for around ten days.
The French Navy deploys one or two French vessels supported by a maritime patrol aircraft almost permanently in the Gulf of Guinea as part of Operation Corymbe . It thus completes the French system in West Africa by participating in the maritime component of operational cooperation. Through its presence in the area, France is participating in the development of the maritime security architecture resulting from the Yaoundé process. Furthermore, this deployment is also part of the concept of coordinated maritime presence supported by the European Union.