India and Tanzania defence collaboration: Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) DG Lieutenant General DS Rana is in Tanzania to further augment defence cooperation and enhance strategic collaboration.
The two sides will talk about defence exports to Tanzania and the African continent as well as regional security during the three-day visit that begins May 13.
In addition, when he arrives in Dar es Salaam, Lt Gen DS Rana will open the first-ever “Defence Wing” at the Indian High Commission in Tanzania. He will also present Tanzania People’s Defence Force (TPDF) with bulletproof jackets “Made in India.”
What is the plan?
According to Financial Express, the DIA Chief will visit Tanzania’s Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Jacob John Makunda and his counterpart Major General MN Makeremi in addition to opening the Defence wing at the Indian High Commission in Dar es Salaam.
Significance of the first Defence Wing ever
It follows that Tanzania will receive the first deployment of an Indian “Defence Attache” (DA). A Commander-rank Indian Navy officer would be appointed as DA in Dar es Salaam, but it has not been formally declared, according to sources.
Actually, India is getting ready to station its DAs in several African nations in order to boost military and defense relations with those nations. Africa is the focus of India’s military policy right now because it is a part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “Global South” and “G-20” plans. This is why Tanzania, Djibouti, Mozambique, Ivory Coast, and Ethiopia use different DAs.
DAs are stationed in the defense wing of the embassies and high commissions set up in important nations. These DAs are personnel of the Navy, Air Force, and Army. Naval personnel are assigned as Naval Attaches or DAs in nations with whom India has maritime relations.
India and that nation conduct military drills, collaborate on defence technology, and import-export weapons. Tanzania will now need to deploy a different DA as India would be supplying bulletproof jackets to them. Being a nation in the Western Indian Ocean, Tanzania can also be partnered with to manage Somalian pirates and maintain Arabian Sea security.
Five Year Roadmap
The main objectives of Gen Pande’s visit to Africa were to strengthen bilateral defence cooperation and improve security in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR).
Together with meeting with the defence leadership of the nation and giving a keynote speech on “Make in India, Make for the World” capability under the “Atamnirbhar Bharat” initiative, General Pande also gave the Tanzania Peoples’ Defence Force (TPDF) a “Made in India” infantry simulator and bulletproof jackets.
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Armed Exercises
Joint military drills with African nations have been conducted by India for the past few years under the name “Africa India Defence Exercise” or AFINDX. Special “Defence Minister Conclave” and “Chief-Conclave” are also planned for the Defence Expo. Together with Tanzanian and Mozambiquen navies, the Indian Navy also conducts “IMT-Trilateral” maritime exercises.
The DIA Chief will also lay the cornerstone for a gymnasium and open a library constructed with Indian cooperation at Tanzania’s Command and Staff College (CSC) Arusha, according to an official statement released by the Ministry of Defense.
