The Gulf of Guinea Chiefs of Staff of the Marines announce a symposium to pool efforts against maritime piracy. Scheduled for Thursday, March 17, this event was supposed to focus on the protection of coasts, fisheries resources and the fight against illegal immigration.
The navies of the Gulf of Guinea face common threats, including predation on fisheries resources, piracy and the phenomenon of illegal immigration. At the end of the maritime exercise « Obangame Express 2022 », a symposium of the Chiefs of Staff of the Marines of the Gulf of Guinea will be organized to discuss the insecurity in the area. This symposium will be an opportunity for the Chiefs of Staff of the Marines of the Gulf of Guinea to pool their efforts against maritime piracy, which threatens this area rich in hydrocarbons and natural resources. “Obangamé Express” which means cooperation, in a language of Cameroon, is a regional exercise at sea that is held in the Gulf of Guinea from Angola to Senegal to combat maritime piracy, illegal fishing, arms trafficking, narco-trafficking and any other phenomenon that plagues the maritime domain.
As a reminder, a total of 132 acts of piracy and armed attacks were recorded on the world’s seas in 2021 according to the annual report of the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) published in mid-January, the lowest figure recorded since 1994. But, although these acts have relatively diminished, the Gulf of Guinea area has largely concentrated these attacks, dethroning in recent years the Gulf of Aden area off the coast of Somalia, which has long been considered the most dangerous maritime sector in the world. The BMI, in its report, indicates that attacks in the area were 34 incidents in 2021 against 81 in 2020. This vast maritime area known as the Gulf of Guinea stretches for thousands of kilometres off the west coast of the continent, from the south of Senegal to the coast of Angola. Nevertheless, it remains the most dangerous area for navigation and the most feared by the crews. It was on the Gulf of Guinea and sometimes very far offshore that all the kidnappings carried out at sea in 2021 occurred, resulting in a total of 57 crew members being detained.
Adapted and Translated from French into English by:
Albéric Djomaki,
CEO at LMS (www.lmsgroupafrica.com)
American Translators Association (ATA) Associate Member
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