Kofi Ampeah Woode
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has held a one-day conference to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Yaoundé Process, under the aegis of its Multinational Maritime Coordination Centre (MMCC) Zone F.
The conference, which was organized by the MMCC Zone F, in collaboration with the Gulf of Guinea Maritime Institute (GOGMI), was held at the Holiday Inn Hotel, Accra, Ghana, on Monday 18 December, 2023, under the theme, “Impact of Yaoundé Code of Conduct on ECOWAS Maritime Domain: 10 Years after Adoption,” with the Guest of Honour being Mrs Odette Gabson Kouao, who represented Ambassador Dr Abdel-Fatau Musah – Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security, at the ECOWAS Commission.
The Yaoundé Architecture – which is a means of the Yaoundé Code of Conduct (YCOC) strategy – provides a comprehensive framework, fostering inter-cooperation among agencies and enhancing institutional capacity to combat maritime threats, and addresses not only piracy and armed robbery, but also other illicit maritime activities.
A key component of this architecture is the Interregional Coordination Centre (ICC), structured into two regional groups – Central Africa Regional Maritime Security Centre (CRESMAC) and West Africa Regional Maritime Security Centre (CRESMAO) – with five sub-operational maritime zones.
ECOWAS’ MMCC Zone F, which is part of the sub-zone, includes countries such as Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, over the past decade, has been at the forefront of combating maritime threats within the Gulf of Guinea (GoG).
In an exclusive interview granted to Peace Journal, the ECOWAS Commissioner’s representative – Mrs Kouao, said after 10 years, it is time to go through a process of evaluation, since the YCOC itself as a document, is not binding on Member States, and has to be made binding.
She opined that the assessment would determine a proper architecture for the GoG region, and the need to either increase, decrease or maintain the number of Maritime Coordination Centers, and that the day’s conference is not part of the review process, but only a celebration of the 10 years of existence of the regional maritime Code of Conduct.
Mrs Kouao furthered that the evaluation process, which would commence by April 2024, would take not more than one year, and would entail regional governmental institutions like fisheries, passports, customs, amongst others, convening to reassess the Code of Conduct, after which a derived document would be proposed to the ECOWAS Summit of Heads of States and Governments, for approval and adoption.
She, however called on institutions whose representatives work at the MMCCs, to second the staff, to further boost the work being done by the maritime operations centers.
The Yaoundé Process was launched following Benin’s President Thomas Boni Yayi’s appeal to the United Nations (UN) Secretary General, which led to the adoption of two UN Security Council Resolutions (2018) 2011 and (2039) 2012, calling on Member States of ECOWAS and the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), to develop a regional strategy to secure their common maritime domain.
It was followed by a Summit of Heads of State and Government of ECCAS, ECOWAS and the Gulf of Guinea Commission (GGC), meeting in Yaoundé on 25 June 2013, which laid the foundations for regional cooperation through the adoption of 1) Declaration of the Heads of State and Government of the Central African and West African States on Safety and Security in their Common Maritime Space.
Two other documents were 2) the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between ECCAS, ECOWAS and the GGC on Safety and Security in the Maritime Area of Central and West Africa; and 3) the Code of Conduct on “the prevention and repression of acts of piracy, armed robbery against ships and illegal maritime activities in West and Central Africa”.
The 3 regional organizations have set up RMSCs and MMCCs which they coordinate, on the basis of their respective maritime strategies, and the collective effort has been given the label of the Yaoundé Process, and is supported by the International Community.
ECOWAS’ Maritime Safety Architecture has four (4) Maritime Coordination Centers or zones: 1) MMCC Zone E in Cotonou, Benin, MMCC Zone F in Accra, Ghana, MMCC Zone G in Praia, Cabo Verde, and CRESMAO in Abidjan, la Cote d’Ivoire, where the zones share maritime information on a daily basis, coordinate activities at sea, and provide training and education for its personnel.
ACHIEVEMENTS
With regard to Maritime Governance, there have been; 1) the establishment of the CRESMAO and assigning it to la Côte d’Ivoire on 31 July 2018 in Lomé, Togo; 2) Establishment of 3 Multilateral Agreements for the creation of Maritime Zones E, F and G under the ECOWAS Integrated Maritime Strategy (EIMS) provides for the delimitation of MMCC Zones E, F and G;
3) Establishing the ECOWAS Sub-Committee of Chiefs of Naval Staff; 4) Signing of headquarters agreements between the ECOWAS Commission and the 4 host countries hosting the MMCC – Côte d’Ivoire, Benin, Ghana and Cabo Verde; 5) Supplementary Act on the Transfer of Persons Suspected of Piracy and Associated Property and/or Evidence;
6) Draft Supplementary Act on Cooperation in the Suppression of Unlawful Maritime Activities within ECOWAS; 7) Organization of mock trials in States; 8) Secondment of international civil servants paid by the States of origin to the MMCCs; 8) Grants awarded by ECOWAS to cover the running of the Centers, accommodation for international staff and transport for local staff; 9) ECOWAS to contribute 60% of the ICC’s budget (salaries and operations);
10) Institutionalization of the Annual Meeting of Stakeholders in the West African Maritime Safety and Security Architecture; 11) MoU on the implementation of joint maritime operations and patrols, signed between the Member States of Zone F; 12) development of a maritime safety strategy in Member States; 13) Capacity building through the acquisition of additional naval assets (Senegal, Cote D’Ivoire, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, etc.);
14) A project to make Rigid-Hulled Inflatable Boats (RHIBS) available to member states through the SWAIMS project; 15) Participation in joint operations and multinational exercises at sea, such as OBANGAME EXPRESS, AFRICA NEMO, GANO, MEGALOPS; 16) Coastal States have a functional Maritime Operations Centre; 17) Information sharing between the MMCCs of the Zones and the MOCs of the Member States is made effective; in the event of a transnational maritime incident.
On the Blue Economy, 18) Signing of a tripartite MoU between the ECOWAS Commission, the Fisheries Committee for the West Central Gulf of Guinea (FCWC) and the Regional Fisheries Surveillance Commission (RFSC), defining a framework for regional cooperation in the fight against IUU fishing, 19) ongoing development of an ECOWAS Blue Economy Strategy;
20) Equipping centers with Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA), Sea vision and other systems; 21) Capacity building in the maritime field through ISMI, RMU and KAIPTC; 22) Training Magistrates and Lawyers in Maritime Safety through the SWAIMS Project, amongst many.
The Director, MMCC Zone F – Captain (Côte d’Ivoire Navy) Noël Oboumou, in his welcome address, singling out few individuals who led the way to operationalize the Centre, mentioned former Chiefs of the Naval Staff (CNS) – Rear Admiral (R/Adm) Geoffrey Mawuli Biekro (Rtd); R/Adm Peter Kofi Faidoo (Rtd), formal Director General, Ghana Maritime Authority (GMA) – Mr Kwame Owusu; Chief of the Defence Staff – Vice Admiral Seth Amoama; CNS, Ghana Navy – Admiral Issah Adam Yakubu, and Director General, GMA – Mr Thomas Kofi Alonsi.
Naval Capt Oboumou lauded Ghana, the host country and international partners, who were instrumental in offering us both administrative and operational assistance, and also provided the needed initial push for setting up the Centre, in terms of personnel, infrastructure and equipment.
“Ghana’s passion to see the Centre operational, led to the appointment of Commander Yussif Benning of blessed memory, as the first Acting Director, his successor – Naval Captain Ebenezer Yirenkyi, who continued to run the Centre until the appointment of the substantive Director”, Capt Oboumou stated.
At the conference, there were presentations by the MMCC Zone F on “An Assessment of the YCOC: The MMCC Zone F Perspective” by the Deputy Director – Lieutenant Commander Edem Komla Akati, and another from National Fisheries Association of Ghana on the topic: Assessing the impact of the YCOC on Fishing Activity: Prospect and Challenges.
The Ghana Navy made a keynote presentation on the topic: “Beyond Piracy and Illegal Unreported Unregulated (IUU): Assessing the Impact of YCOC on Other Crimes in the GoG”, by Commodore Solomon Asiedu-Larbie and a couple of plenary discussions, with comments and questions from the audience.
Dignitaries present included the Chief of the Naval Staff, Ghana Navy – Rear Admiral (R/Adm) Issah Adam Yakubu; Commandant, Ghana Armed Forces Command and Staff College – Major General Bismarck Kwasi Onwona; former CNS – R/Adm Mawuli Biekro (Rtd); Ghana Air Force’s former Chief of the Air Staff – Air Vice Marshal Frank Kofi Hanson (Rtd);
Also present were the Commander, Air Force Base, Accra – Air Commodore Eric Agyen-Frempong; Deputy Chief Staff Officer, Naval Headquarters – Commodore Solomon Asiedu-Larbi, Officers from the Ghana Navy, Ghana Police Service, Ghana Immigration Service, Ghana’s Narcotic Control Commission, Defence Attaches of China, Italy and the United States of America Embassies.
Photo Credit: Information Services Department, Ghana
By Kofi Ampeah-Woode
