Omar Hilale (Arabic: ; born 1 January 1951 in Agadir) is a Moroccan career

diplomat. He has been Morocco's Permanent Representative to the United Nations in

New York since he was appointed in this position in April 2014. He used to be the
permanent representative of Morocco to the UN in Geneva.[1]

Hilale is a graduate of the Mohammed V University in Rabat where he obtained a

bachelor in political science in 1974. He served in many diplomatic posts such as
ambassador in Singapore, New Zealand, Australia and Indonesia, between 1996 and
2001.[1] He was the General Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and
Cooperation between 2005 and 2008.[1] In November 2008 he became representative of
Morocco to the UN in Geneva.[1]

Socit nationale d'lectricit et de thermique (SNET) is a French electricity

generation and distribution company.

As the inheritor of Charbonnages de France's thermal power stations, SNET have an

installed capacity of 2.4 gigawatts, or around 2% of the capacity of lectricit de
France.

SNET has been a competitor of EDF since the opening of the French electricity
market in 1999. In September 2004, the company was acquired by the Spanish company
Endesa. According to L'Humanit, this was followed by the downsizing of 30% of the
staff.[1]

In June 2008 SNET was sold to the German group E.ON.[2] As of 2012 SNET was
building several combined cycle gas turbines, the two first French ones at the
thermal plant Emile Huchet in Saint-Avold in northeastern France.

Point Marone was built to accommodate an 8-man crew.[8] She was powered by two 600
hp (447 kW) VT600 Cummins diesel main drive engines and had two five-bladed 42 in
(1.1 m) propellers. The main drive engines were later replaced by 800 hp (597 kW)
VT800 Cummins engines. Water tank capacity was 1,550 U.S. gallons (5,900 L) and
fuel tank capacity was 1,840 U.S. gallons (7,000 L) at 95% full.[6][8] Engine
exhaust was ported through the transom rather than through a conventional stack and
this permitted a 360 degree view from the bridge; a feature that was very useful in
search and rescue work as well as a combat environment.[9]

The design specifications for Point Marone included a steel hull for durability and
an aluminum superstructure and longitudinally framed construction was used to save
weight. Ease of operation with a small crew size was possible because of the non-
manned main drive engine spaces. Controls and alarms located on the bridge allowed
one man operation of the cutter thus eliminating a live engineer watch in the
engine room.[9] Because of design, four men could operate the cutter; however, the
need for resting watchstanders brought the crew size to eight men for normal
domestic service.[9] The screws were designed for ease of replacement and could be
changed without removing the cutter from the water. A clutch-in idle speed of three
knots helped to conserve fuel on lengthy patrols and an eighteen knot maximum speed
could get the cutter on scene quickly.[10] Air-conditioned interior spaces were a
part of the original design for the Point class cutter. Interior access to the
deckhouse was through a watertight door on the starboard side aft of the deckhouse.
The deckhouse contained the cabin for the officer-in-charge and the executive petty
officer.[10] The deckhouse also included a small arms locker, scuttlebutt, a small
desk and head. Access to the lower deck and engine room was down a ladder. At the
bottom of the ladder was the galley, mess and recreation deck. A watertight door at
the front of the mess bulkhead led to the main crew quarters which was ten feet
long and included six bunks that could be stowed, three bunks on each side. Forward
of the bunks was the crew's head complete with a compact sink, shower and commode.
[10] Accommodations for a 13-man crew were installed for Vietnam service.[6][7][11]
[12]
History[edit]
After delivery in 1962, Point Marone was assigned a homeport of San Pedro,
California, where she served as a law enforcement and search and rescue patrol
boat.[6]

At the request of the United States Navy, in April 1965, she was alerted for
service in Vietnam and assigned to Coast Guard Squadron One in support of Operation
Market Time along with 16 other Point class cutters.[13][14] While the crew
completed overseas training and weapons qualifications at Coast Guard Island and
Camp Parks, California, Point Marone was loaded onto a merchant ship, and
transported to Subic Bay, Philippines in May 1965 where she was refit for combat
service.[6] Shipyard modifications included installation of new single-sideband
radio equipment, additional floodlights, small arms lockers, bunks, additional
sound-powered phone circuits, and the addition of four M-2 machine guns. The
original bow-mounted machine gun was replaced with a combination over-under .50
caliber machine gun/81 mm trigger-fired mortar that had been developed by the Coast
Guard for service in Vietnam.[5][6][14][15] For service in Vietnam, two officers
were added to the crew complement to add seniority to the crew in the mission of
interdicting vessels at sea.[16]

Point Marone was assigned to Division 11 of Squadron One to be based at An Thoi,

[17] a small fishing village on the southern tip of Phu Quoc Island along with
Point Banks, Point Clear, Point Comfort, Point Garnet, Point Glover, Point Grey,
Point Mast and Point Young. After sea trials, the Division left Subic Bay for Phu
Quoc on 17 July 1965 in the company of USS Floyd County (LST-762), their temporary
support ship. After almost two weeks at sea, they arrived at their new duty station
on 1 August and began patrolling the waters in the Gulf of Thailand near the C Mau
Peninsula.[18][19] Duty consisted of boarding Vietnamese junks to search for
contraband weapons and ammunition and check the identification papers of persons on
board. During September 1965, USS Krishna (ARL-38), a repair ship outfitted for the
repair of WPB's relieved the Floyd County. Also during this time, the WPB's were
directed to paint the hulls and superstructures formula 20 deck gray to cover the
stateside white paint. This increased the effectiveness of night patrols.[20]

While on patrol in the Gulf of Thailand near the Cambodian border on the night of
19 September 1965 Point Marone intercepted a suspicious junk operating near Ha Tien
and warned it to stop for boarding. After receiving fire from the junk she returned
fire, and with assistance from Point Glover they sank the junk in fifteen feet of
water. After the junk was recovered the following day, rifles, grenades, ammunition
and documents were discovered. The only survivor of the crew of the junk provided
intelligence which led to a raid on Hon Mot that was conducted on 26 September.
Point Marone participated in the raid along with cutters Point Comfort and Point
Grey by transporting civilian irregular defense group (CIDG) mercenaries and their
Special Forces advisors to the raid and providing fire support with the 81 mm
mortar.[21][22]

On 4 August 1970, Point Marone and USCGC Point Cypress, conducted the last mission
for Squadron One on the Co Chien River. The cutters each carried fifty Kit Carson
Scouts and their ARVN advisors along with the full 13 man South Vietnamese Navy
replacement crew aboard for their final check ride for the Vietnamization program.
In one of the canals that intersected with the river Point Marone hit a command
detonated mine wounding several on board and causing several holes below the
waterline.[23] The mission was cancelled and Point Cypress escorted her back to the
base at Cat Lo.[24]

On 15 August 1970, Point Marone along with Point Cypress were turned over to the
South Vietnamese Navy as part of the "Vietnamization" of the war effort; the last
two of the 26 Point-class cutters assigned to Squadron One. Point Marone was
recommissioned as RVNS Trng Ba (HQ-725).[4][6]