The United States on Tuesday began the deployment of about 1,400 sailors and marines aboard USS EmoryS. Land to the oil-rich Gulf of Guinea for multiple security training and maritime operations, the US navy said.

The US government has repeatedly expressed its willingness to cooperate with nations in the Gulf of Guinea, including Nigeria, Africa's biggest oil producer, in monitoring the waters to secure the alternative source of oil to the Middle East.

The Gulf of Guinea, which is believed to hold as much as 10 percent of the world's oil reserves, has been plagued by pirates, smugglers and other criminals.

Therefore, the deployment, similar in nature to the regularly-scheduled west African training cruises conducted since 1978, will"enhance security cooperation between the United States and participating Gulf of Guinea nations by providing the opportunity to interact and improve familiarization with how we operate in real-world environment," Vice Admiral Harry Ulrich, commander of the US Sixth Fleet, said in a press release published on the US navy website.

The familiarization efforts will focus on navigation and seamanship, search and rescue, antiterrorism/force protection, andHIV/AIDS awareness and prevention, the release said.

And this year's deployment is a direct result of a Gulf of Guinea maritime security conference held in Naples, Italy, last October, which was attended by 17 navies from Africa and the West,it added.

The US navy also said Nigeria, Gabon, Ghana, Cameroon, Togo, Benin, and Sao Tome and Principe as well as several theater ally counties have been invited to attend or observe the deployment.

Source: Xinhua