September 30, 2007: NATO has sent a flotilla of warships (from Denmark, Portugal, the Netherlands,Canada, Germany and the United States) on a cruise around Africa. They moved down the west coast, then north to the Red Sea. Officers on board are collecting information on conditions, at sea and ports along the way, so that future peacekeeping operations will be planned with a better knowledge of what is actually there. When the flotilla got to South Africa, there were training exercises with the South African navy (the largest navy in sub-Saharan Africa.)