Kofi Ampeah Woode
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), in collaboration with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and Denmark, commenced a four day conference in Ghana to structurally and technically evaluate the sub-regional body’s three Multinational Maritime Coordination Centres (MMCC) set up for maritime security in the Gulf of Guinea (GoG).
The conference commenced on Monday 15 July 2024, at the Lancaster Hotel, Accra, Ghana, who also hosts the MMCC Zone F, with the ECOWAS Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security – His Excellency (HE) Dr Abdel-Fatau Musah; ECOWAS Resident Representative in Ghana – Ambassador Baba Gana Wakil; Ambassador of Denmark to Ghana – HE Tom Norring; and UNODC Regional Project Coordinator – Abbas Daher, gracing the opening session.
The Keynote Speaker – HE Abdel-Fatau Musah (PhD) contextualized the basis for the conference saying that, West Africans are at the crossroads and are confronted with 3 important Member States (Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger) located in one of the four epicentres (zones) of insecurity in the region, opting out of ECOWAS.
He cited the zones of insecurity as being 1) the Sahel with climate-induced and manmade-threats that have already snowballed into a zone of geostrategic and geopolitical struggles; 2) the Lake Chad Basin being haven for activities of Islamic State, Al-Qaida, Islamic State West Africa Province etc., causing the lake to lose almost all its water mass.
The third is the Futa Jallon Mountains from which all the major rivers in West Africa take their source, being ravaged by clearing of the vegetation, against the River Niger which goes through Mali and Niger, and could cause water wars; the fourth and largest being the GoG, where piracy has been extinguished, although it is only the tip of the iceberg of marine criminalities.
He furthered that Illegal Unreported Unregulated (IUU) fishing that is depleting fish stocks at alarming rates, dumping of toxic waste, are rampant in the gulf, in addition to the region being a preferred route for drug trafficking, with routes such as Cabo Verde, Senegal, Guinea Bissau, into the Sahel and beyond to Europe or United States.
To make the ocean safe, ECOWAS learnt from the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), which begun tackling insecurity in its section of the gulf by setting up 4 Maritime Coordinating Centres (MOCs) but later whittled them down to 2, he said.
He opined that ECOWAS should once again learn from ECCAS about sustainability in monitoring the maritime domain, where individual Member States or ECOWAS own the MMCCs, as the States are regularly contributing to their sustainability on voluntary basis, thus the need to grant them legal status, after evaluating their progress, prospects and challenges.
Delivering the welcome remarks, Lieutenant Commander (Lt Cdr) Edem Akati – Deputy Director, MMCC Zone F said, the Yaoundé Code of Conduct, the Yaoundé Architecture and the ECOWAS Integrated Maritime Strategy (EIMS), which produced the MMCCs, have made great strides towards promoting safety and security within the GoG, albeit with some challenges.
He stated that one critical challenge that has faced the implementation of the security measures has been the state of operationalization of the ECOWAS Maritime Centres, the more specific being the issue of staffing of the Centres, with attendant issues such as the number, financial and administrative status of the staff.
Accordingly, he said, it has become important to review the existing terms of operationalization of the MMCCs, specifically with respect to staff numbers and remuneration, in order to enhance their effectiveness in carrying out their mandate, towards a more sustainable and secure future for the ECOWAS Maritime Coordination Centres.
Mr Abbas Daher, on his part said the Interdepartmental dialogue on the rightsizing of the MMCCs marks an important milestone in the continuing engagement with ECOWAS with the aim of finding practical and innovative solutions towards ensuring maritime security and that would allow for economic prosperity to inure for the benefit of its Member States.
He commended ECOWAS’ willingness to consider the option of taking responsibility for the centres and conferring the necessary legal status that will address the funding and deficit to optimally challenges to enable them better function optimally to achieve the objectives for which they were established.
He continued to say that the role of the ECOWAS MMCCs has been evident in discharging the responsibility of coordinating information sharing and maritime security activities in the ECOWAS Maritime Domain, which have contributed to the reduction in maritime incidents in the region.
He reinforced the host’s point that the focus of the engagement is on the institutional structure of the Maritime Coordination Centres tasked with the responsibility of coordinating information sharing and maritime security activities in the ECOWAS Maritime Domain.
HE Ambassador Norring said, through its active involvement in the establishment of the Yaoundé Code of Conduct and its related architecture, ECOWAS provided its Member States with both a strategic and an operational framework, to enhance multinational cooperation and collaboration in combating piracy, and other maritime crimes.
He further expressed awareness of on-going efforts by ECOWAS to develop and implement sub-regional agreements that would provide additional frameworks for the interception, arrest and prosecution of crimes at sea, among Member States.
He went on to say that, after ten years of its existence, it is essential to reassess and streamline the Yaoundé Architecture and its coordination structures within, to enhance performance and effectiveness, in fulfilling their mandates, describing the dialogue as a true demonstration of “finding African solutions to African problems”.
Under the Danish Gulf of Guinea Maritime Security Programme (GSMP), he said, which has now run for ten (10) years, there is the plan include outcomes and activities that are focused on enhancing regional cooperation and collaboration through information sharing, joint training and sea exercises, regional case coordination workshops, as well as regional policy dialogue events.
Mr Norring said the current phase of Denmark’s regional maritime security programme is dedicated to ensuring the sustainability of efforts through the establishment of regional centres of excellence in maritime crime interdiction for countries in ECOWAS maritime Zones E and F.
The Danish Ambassador said the phase also encompasses the training and certification of local security personnel as trainers in the areas of maritime crime interdiction and investigations, as well as promoting women’s meaningful participation in maritime law enforcement efforts, with implementing partners being UNODC, INTERPOL, and the Kofi Annan International Peace Training Centre (KAIPTC).
Departments of ECOWAS participating in the conference include Trade, Standby Force, Peace Support Operations, West Africa Regional Maritime Security Centre (CRESMAO), Auditor General, Environment, Transport, Parliament, Court of Justice, Legal Affairs, Humanitarian and Social Affairs, Regional Security, MMCC Zones E, F and G, Inter-Regional Coordination Centre (ICC), and Regional Centre for Maritime Security in Central Africa (CRESMAC).
By Kofi Ampeah-Woode
