Kofi Ampeah Woode
The 2024 edition of Exercise Grand African Nemo (EX GANO ’24) – a 7-day multinational maritime safety and security exercise – organized by France and the Yaoundé Maritime Security Architecture, in collaboration with Italy, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and others, towards freedom of navigation in the Gulf of Guinea (GoG), has kicked off.
The exhilarating multinational, multiple organizational maritime training program commenced at various locations in the GoG, but the commencement was officially marked on Monday 4 November 2024, at the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Multinational Maritime Coordination Centre (MMCC) Zone F Headquarters, Christianborg Castle, Osu, Accra.
At the ceremony to mark the opening of Ex GANO ’24, the Flag Officer Commanding (FOC), Western Naval Command (WNC), Ghana Navy – Commodore (Cdre) Emmanuel Ayesu Kwafo, was the Guest of Honour, and France’s Ambassador to Ghana – His Excellency (HE) Jules Armand Aniambossou as the Special Guest.
Ex GANO ‘24 is expected to offer opportunity for stakeholders of the GoG to come together to share knowledge, and learn best practices to improve their skills, and collectively enhance operational capabilities.
Cardinal objectives of the exercise is to help stakeholders consolidate gains made, such as effective information sharing, interoperability, trust building and ensuring safety and security in the GoG.
The GoG region, which includes MMCC Zone F – a maritime space composed of Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana, has experienced a drastic decline in maritime incidents, especially in piracy, armed robbery at sea and other transnational maritime crimes, however, through multinational exercises and other concerted national, regional and international efforts, negative counts have great reduced.
Cdre EA Kwafo, however, sounds caution that Pirate Action Groups (PAGS), other criminal networks, threats of Illegal Unreported and Unregulated Fishing (IUUF), narcotics trade, breach of customs regulations through smuggling, and unauthorized transfer of goods, are still active.
“The complex nature of transnational crimes and criminal networks, makes it imperative for us to collaborate and coordinate our efforts through partnerships”, he avers.
Cdre Kwafo reinforces the point that, “these exercises, apart from building the capacity of our Navies and Coast Guards to maintain a safe and secured maritime environment for a thriving blue economy, have also been designed to ensure interoperability and effective coordination”.
Over the 7 day period of the training, navies, coast guards and other maritime agencies within the various Zone F member states and their partner nations, have been deployed at sea and other locations, to play out various scenarios as part of Ex GANO 24.
These scenarios will serve as the basis for testing various mechanisms within the Yaoundé Architecture and the ECOWAS Integrated Maritime Strategy (EIMS), for the enhancement of maritime safety and security within the Zone F domain, and by extension, the larger GoG.
Ex GANO 24, hosted by the West Africa Regional Maritime Security Centre (CRESMAO), will from 4-11 November, be in 2 Phases, with Phase 1 having a national touch from 4-6 November; then from 7-11 November, it would take a zonal view in Phase 2.
Ex GANO 24 would also provide an opportunity for Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) and ECOWAS, to test the maritime safety and security strategy emplaced in both regions, in order to develop the Blue Economy of the GoG, by supporting the Yaounde Process.
It would also support African partner countries in their willingness to conduct independent maritime operations, and to support land-based command structures, to organize maritime security operations.
Scenarios to be exercised by the actors are; Piracy, IUUF, Narcotics, Maritime Pollution, Arms Trafficking, Human Trafficking, Illegal Migration, Search and Rescue (SAR) Operations.
Participating Partner Agencies are the French Atlantic Command (CECLANT), International Chamber Commerce (ICC), CRESMAO, Central Africa Regional Maritime Safety Centre (CRESMAC), MMCC Zones A, D, E, F&G, United Nations Office on drugs and Crime (UNODC), INTERPOL, EXPERTISE FRANCE, and Maritime Domain Awareness for Trade (MDAT-GoG);
Others are European Union (EU)/Enhanced Maritime Action in the GoG (EnMAR), Maritime Analysis and Operations Centre-Narcotics (MAOC-N), Gulf of Guinea Interregional Network II (GoGIN II), EU/SEACOP, European fishing Control Agency (EFCA), Sub-Regional Fisheries commission (SRFC), Fisheries Committee for West Central GoG (FCWC), CÈDRE, and the Gilgel Gibe Field Research Centre (GGFRC).
Participating Foreign Navies Assets are: France – DIXMUDE ship, FALCON 50 aircraft, ALSR aircraft; Morocco – BIR ANZARANE ship; Mauritania – MS TIMBEDRA ship; Italy – ITS BORSINI ship; United Kingdom – RFA LYME BAY ship; Spain – SPS METEORO; and Portugal – VIANA DO CASTELO.
For the participating states from Zone F, la Cote d’Ivoire has 10 Units participating, Ghana Navy has 12 Units, Guinea has 16 Units, Sierra Leone has 6 Units, and Liberia has 7 Units.
Present at the opening Ceremony included a Representative from the ECOWAS Commission, Defence Attaches from Zone F Member States, Director MMCC Zone F – Captain (Cote d’Ivoire Navy) Noel Oboumou; Deputy Director – Lieutenant Commander Edem Akati; Ghana Army and Air Force, Ghana Police Service, Ghana Immigration Service, among others.
By Kofi Ampeah-Woode
