India, April 18 -- India is quietly stepping up its maritime engagement with Africa. Earlier this month, the Indian Navy launched a new multinationalexercise - the Africa-India Key Maritime Engagement (AIKEYME) - off the coast of Tanzania, involving navies from 10 African countries. Around the same time, INS Sunayna - designated the Indian Ocean Ship (IOS) Sagar - set sail on a month-long deployment through the Western Indian Ocean, carrying a mixed crew of Indian and African personnel. Both moves are part of a wider push by New Delhi to expand its maritime footprint, burnish its credentials as a regional security provider, and cultivate deeper defence ties with Africa.

The symbolism behind these gestures is hard to miss. The AIKEYME exe...