Maritime Security in the Gulf of Guinea : Lessons Learned from the Indian Ocean

Abstract

Piracy emanating from Somalia has dominated maritime security concerns of policy-makers worldwide for the past five years. Sporadic attacks on commercial vessels have occurred close to the coast of Somalia for more than a decade, but in 2008 concerns for the security of the busy shipping routes running across the Indian Ocean and through the Gulf of Aden grew, as the number of successful hijackings, the scope of the pirates’ area of operation and the amount demanded in ransom payments rose dramatically. The year 2008 also marked the start of concerted and wide-ranging international efforts to counter Somali piracy, and the effects of these initiatives are now evident: in May 2013 UN officials noted that there had been no successful hijacking in the Indian Ocean for a year.1 International attention is now shifting to the insecurity of waters off Africa’s west coast.2 The Gulf of Guinea – the coastal zone stretching from Senegal to Angola – provides an economic lifeline to coastal and landlocked West African countries, and is of strategic importance to the rest of the world. Safe passage to ports in the region and security within its waters are vital for global energy production, as Nigeria and Angola are among the world’s 10 biggest crude oil exporters; for West Africa’s fishing industry, which provides sustenance and employment for a large swathe of the West African population; and for the prevention of the trafficking of narcotics, people and weapons into Europe and into fragile regions that are vulnerable to destabilization. In June 2013 the annual Human Cost of Maritime Piracy report noted that more seafarers were attacked in West African waters than off Somalia’s coast in 2012.3 Although