The Military Advisor at the United Nations Regional Office for Central Africa, UNOCA, Col. François Ndiaye, has stated that no country in the West and Central African Sub-region, has the means to combat piracy alone.

He made the statement in Yaounde on April 22, at the start of a series of meetings of the Inter-regional Working Group in charge of drafting the organisational documents of the Inter-regional Coordination Centre with headquarters in Cameroon.

It should be recalled that the meetings of the Inter-regional Working Group is in line with the Yaounde Declaration of the Heads of State and Government summit of Economic Community of Central African States (CEEAC); the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the Gulf of Guinea Commission (CGG) on Maritime Safety and Security in the Gulf of Guinea that held in Yaounde on June 24 and 25, 2013.

Col. Ndiaye told experts at the meeting that: “The will demonstrated by states is not enough to sustainably fight [piracy]. No state in the sub-region has the means to stem the threat. It is therefore with more cooperation and vigilance that real progress could be made as illicit acts know no boundary at sea,” he noted.

He said concerted action should provide a forecasted regional framework for the fight against the ill with the sharing of information and coordination mechanisms seriously taken into consideration. He said the combination of the efforts should lead to coherent maritime governance through a global approach in liaison with the African Union. Ndiaye held that financial, technical as well as judicial and organisational support of partners is necessary for the putting in place of the Inter-regional Coordination Centre.

On his part, the Minister Delegate at the Presidency in charge of Defence, Edgar Alain Mebe Ngo’o, President of the National Follow-up Committee for the implementation of the Yaounde Declaration, said the elaboration of the basic texts of the Inter-regional Coordination Centre is one of the key tools that would provide safety and security thus fostering socio-economic and cultural development objectives of the region.

He said the Yaounde summit of June 2013 was in line with resolution 2039 of the UN Security Council on maritime security in the Gulf of Guinea. He noted that a code of conduct on prevention and repression of acts of piracy, armed robbery and illicit maritime activities in West and Central Africa and the Yaounde Declaration on Safety and Security in the Gulf of Guinea, were key results of the summit.

Mebe Ngo’o said after a series of post-Yaounde summit concertations, the Inter-regional Working Group charged with the elaboration of the basic documents was created. Calling on the experts to deeply reflect and improve on the document proposed by Cameroon, the Minister said no efforts would be spared to make their mission a success. The representative of ECOWAS, Col. Abdourahmane Dieng, recalled that Africa has witnessed persistent and increasing pirate activities with the peak reached following the crisis in Somalia some two decades ago.

He cited trans-national criminal acts that touch on their domain to include money laundry; drugs and arms trafficking; piracy; armed robbery at sea; stealing of crude oil; trading in persons and trafficking of migrants; pollution; illegal fishing; disposal of toxic waste; hostage taking; attacks on offshore oil installations; among others. He revealed that in the recent past, the World Maritime Organisation had classified the Gulf of Guinea amongst six hot piracy hot spots in the world with 58 attacks registered in the first 10 months of 2011

According to Philip J. Heyl, an Air and Maritime expert at the Unified American Command for Africa, AFRICOM, crime wave at sea is on the rise and is negatively affecting trade and development. Disclosing that AFRICOM trains and promotes development in the maritime sector, Heyl said security is the responsibility of both Civil and Military agencies. He hailed stakeholders for engaging the implementation of the Yaounde Declaration.

Meanwhile, Samuel Kame Domguia, who spoke for the African Union, said because of the increasing trend of piracy, the summit of Heads of State and Government on January 31, 2014, in Addis-Ababa, adopted the Integrated Maritime Strategy of Africa. He expressed satisfaction following positive reactions from member states of the Union.

Revisiting the Yaounde Declaration, the French Ambassador to Cameroon, Christine Robichon, hailed the CEEAC, ECOWAS and CGG, remarking that the security challenges at sea are enormous. She pledged the faithfulness of France as a partner in the fight against piracy in the Gulf of Guinea.