Mozambique has reached an agreement with South Africa to allow patrols in the Mozambique Channel by the South African navy. South Africa's naval patrol is to consist of a single frigate-with helicopter capability-and a supply vessel. The patrol is scheduled to last for one month, but this is likely to be extended. Mozambique itself has little naval capability: its navy is estimated by a global survey of military capability, The Military Balance 2010, to comprise just 200 personnel and five patrol boats. It is therefore woefully under-equipped to police the country's coastline, which is over 2,000 km in length, let alone further offshore.

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The decision follows increased activity by Somali pirates in the area and concerns that risks to merchant shipping caused by marine piracy could now spread from East to Southern Africa. According to a London-based shipping security lobby, the International Maritime Bureau, many attacks by Somali pirates now take place over 1,000 nautical miles off the coast of Somalia, often using "mother ships" as bases for their skiffs. In an example of the Somali pirates' increasing range, on December 28th a Mozambican fishing vessel was hijacked; its Somali captors demanded a ransom of US$1.8m for release of the vessel and her 14 crew.

As the seas surrounding Somalia have become increasingly policed, not least by an EU force known as Atalanta, the pirates are likely to operate further afield. Sea traffic in the little-policed Mozambique channel could be an increasingly tempting target, posing a threat to South Africa's external trade. In other developments, a ship carrying illegal immigrants from Somalia and Ethiopia sank off Mozambique's Cabo Delgado province in early February, causing 51 deaths. The vessel's occupants were believed to have been destined for South Africa.