The third international Conference on Maritime Security in the Gulf of Guinea and the Red Sea brought together maritime experts, policymakers, and military leaders to address pressing security challenges in the region, particularly piracy, illegal fishing, and smuggling, and highlighted the urgent need for African nations to collaborate regionally and internationally to secure their maritime domains for economic and regional stability.
Organised by the Royal Danish Defence College (RDDC), the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC) and Stellenbosch University’s Security Institute for Governance and Leadership in Africa (SIGLA), the conference was held in Stellenbosch on 5 and 6 September and focused on vulnerabilities, responses and initiatives to mitigate insecurity in the region’s waters.
The Gulf of Guinea has become a focal point for global maritime security due to its high rates of piracy, accounting for 90% of piracy-related kidnappings worldwide in 2019. Coastal states, with the help of international navies, have made strides in countering piracy since 2001, but challenges remain. Piracy tactics have evolved, including increased operational ranges, extended geographical targets and a shift from cargo theft to mass kidnappings for ransom. In addition, the region faces the issue of Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing, which threatens both the economy and food security, as exemplified by the $200 million in annual losses in Ghana’s fishing industry, conference attendees heard.
Across the continent, the Bab al-Mandab Strait, connecting the Red Sea with the Indian Ocean, is a critical transit point for global trade. Armed attacks by the Houthi militia in Yemen have disrupted major shipping routes in the Red Sea, forcing vessels to reroute around the southern tip of Africa. These diversions add up to two weeks and 6,000 extra nautical miles to shipping journeys, raising global shipping costs and insurance premiums.
These developments in the Red Sea could have a ripple effect on the Gulf of Guinea, a concern exacerbated by the emerging link between terrorist groups in the Sahel and transnational criminal networks.
Rear Admiral Issah Yakubu, Chief of Naval Staff, Ghana Navy, opened the conference with a keynote address that highlighted the importance of secure maritime domains for Africa’s economic and regional stability. His address highlighted the significance of maritime governance and the need for African states to collaborate with international partners to strengthen capacity-building measures in the region.
In his speech, Yakubu drew attention to the ongoing piracy threat in the Gulf of Guinea, where incidents of kidnapping for ransom have replaced cargo theft as pirates’ main modus operandi. He explained how efforts by regional and international navies have yielded some success, but new challenges have emerged.
“These new dynamics include increased operational range from the coastline, extension of geographical range from the epicentre and mass kidnapping. Pirates have shifted their focus to taking crew members hostage for ransom,” he said.
The conference also examined the broader implications of Red Sea security for Africa. Yakubu noted that “the situation in the Red Sea has direct and indirect consequences for the Gulf of Guinea and the entire Atlantic coast of Africa. The increased shipping offers trade opportunities but also significant security challenges. There are already clear indications that terrorist groups in the Sahel intend linking up their activities with transnational criminal groups operating in the Gulf of Guinea.”
The Chief of the Ghanaian Naval Staff underscored the growing threat of Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing, which jeopardises food security in countries like Ghana, where the fishing industry provides jobs for 100 000 citizens and fish constitutes 60% of the protein intake.
“Illegal fishing in the Gulf of Guinea is costing Ghana about $200 million annually. This threat to the fishing industry is, therefore, a threat to food and human security,” he emphasised.
Yakubu also provided a candid assessment of the region’s efforts to combat maritime insecurity, specifically highlighting the challenges of the Yaoundé Code of Conduct and its multilayered architecture.
“The Yaoundé Architecture (for Maritime Security) is currently stressed and risks collapsing altogether,” he noted.
At the Inter Regional Coordinating Centre, there is only one staff member left, after ECOWAS and ECCAS withdrew their contributed staff without replacement. The Regional and Zonal Coordinating centres are also seriously challenged with staffing and some of the zonal centres are yet to be set up after eleven years of implementation.
“While the regional centres are challenged, national maritime operations centres are generally operating effectively and sharing information directly among themselves,” he said.
He proposed streamlining the system by focusing on key regional centres, suggesting the scrapping of the zonal centres and concentrate limited resources on the Inter-Regional Coordinating Centre (ICC) and the Regional Centres (CRESMAO) in the ECOWAS region and CRESMAC in the Central African region.
Yakubu explained: “With the aid of technology, these three centres should be capable of coordinating collaboration in the entire Gulf of Guinea through the National Maritime Operations Centres.”
Another initiative credited with the improvement of security in the Gulf of Guinea is the European Union’s Coordinated Maritime Presence (CMP) and presence of other international players in the Gulf of Guinea. The presence of foreign warships in the region is particularly critical in the far offshore areas over 100 nautical miles, where the pirates have extended their activities beyond the reach of most coastal navies and coast guards. However, there are concerns of these warships not coordinating their activities with coastal authorities and regional coordinating centres.
In discussing the Ghanaian Navy’s international partnerships, particularly with Denmark, Yakubu pointed to tangible improvements: “Support from the Danish Ministry of Defence, particularly the Danish Special Warfare Group through a five-year development plan, has made a significant impact on the capabilities of the Ghana Navy in the past three years. The Special Boat Squadron is now sufficiently trained to conduct maritime interdiction operations, opposed boarding and hostage rescue from ships and in the littorals.”
The Danish Government has also supported in elevating the Naval Training Command of the Ghana Navy into a Regional Centre of Excellence.
“While the challenges facing maritime security in Africa are daunting, support from our partners, continuous dialogue and the will to collaborate regionally and internationally will give us an edge over our common adversaries,” Yakubu stated in his closing remarks.
Other speakers covered aspects such as regional maritime responsibilities, IUU fishing in the Gulf of Guinea, improving pan-African maritime security and the Cape Sea Route, wildlife product smuggling and maritime diplomacy.
Piracy in the Gulf of Guinea and all of Africa should not be viewed as a maritime problem alone, but also as part of onshore crime employment cycles, recruitment and efforts by people to maintain a livelihood.
@DefenceWeb