● You participated in a symposium on the theme ?Meeting Maritime Security Challenges for Mauritius in the 21st century?. Could you elaborate on these challenges?

My part of the programme was to talk about how to put together a national security strategy, why it?s important and how to communicate it across a broader spectrum of society so that everybody can participate in its development. I talked about the shared strategic interests of the United States and Africa. We share interests on a number of fronts. One is a concern for anti-terrorism efforts. Not that Africa is in any way a terrorist continent, but there are elements and vulnerabilities that support the possibility of recruiting for terrorism. If people are poor, if they?re not educated, if they don?t have an opportunity to succeed, they might become candidates for recruitment by terrorist organizations.

?Everything is secondary to peace and stability issues. You can?t have the others unless you have those two.?

We also have positive strategic interests. Africa is becoming a rich source of things that the rest of the world ? not just the US but also China and India ? want. I consider this to be a positive thing for Africa. It puts Africa in a very good position to have a lot of people competing to buy oil, bauxite, copper, timber and diamonds. It becomes a concern when governments can?t control their resources and they are stolen and sent off to a bank in Switzerland. Even worse, from our perspective, is that they fund terrorist activities and weapons. Our strategic concern, and that of African states, is to protect their resources from illegal activities and that?s an area we think we help in.

● What about maritime security?

We have concerns about maritime security. From our perspective, it ties back to weapons of mass destruction. But it also has to do with trade. 80% of the world?s trade is by water and a large portion of that goes either north or south of Africa. It would be a strategic problem if terrorists, or anyone else, were able to interdict that trade.

● What is your appraisal of the effectiveness of the Mauritian naval fleet to deal with these challenges?

I would say that Mauritius is pretty much like the rest of us, even the US, in that we have more coastlines than we have assets. We don?t have enough ships to protect our own borders. We?re working with the Mauritian authorities and other African countries to build up different levels of defence. Ships are only one way to protect the coastlines. There are also listening devices and satellite devices. A lot depends on training and getting good people in. We?re working with the Mauritian government to improve its capabilities in maritime security.

● Is illegal immigration via coastlines a big issue for you?

In some countries more than others. In terms of our national security concerns, it becomes a problem of ?Who are these people?? If they?re normal refugees, that?s one set of issues. If they are terrorists, that becomes another set of issues.

● Would you say that the American presence in Diego Garcia has made the region more or less safe?

It?s not an issue that I follow.

● As you said earlier, terrorism stems from socioeconomic problems. What is the US doing to tackle these problems in the region?

The bulk of our efforts in the war against terrorism are against those things. We realize that the war on terrorism is mostly not a military issue. It?s all about eliminating the root causes of terrorism. We have a multi-billion dollar HIV/AIDS programme, we have the Agricultural Growth and Opportunity Act, which deals with free trade and exchange of goods. We have multiple programmes looking at human rights, the treatment of women, children?s issues and diseases. I think we put around USD 4 billion into Africa every year. Some of that also includes peace-keeping support for the United Nations.

● You mentioned some positive shared issues between Mauritius and the US. What are they?

Our big concern throughout Africa is that peace and security in Africa equates with peace and stability in the US. Tourism is number three on your list and maritime issues are a threat to tourism. You?re now trying to convert some of your sugar stock into sugar by-products, such as bio-fuels. These are positive changes that the government wants to make. We are interested in providing capacity-building tools to help achieve those goals. Mauritius is well-off compared to some other African states so you don?t need as much help on some things. Everything is secondary to peace and stability issues. You can?t have the others unless you have those two.