African leaders yesterday signed a deal to boost security off the continent’s economically crucial coasts, hoping to shore up development by tackling maritime crimes like piracy and smuggling.
Congolese President Denis Sassou Nguesso hailed the African Union agreement as “historic”, while Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta said it showed Africa’s ability to put together a continent-wide strategy.
Sassou Nguesso said 43 nations had adopted the binding agreement at a summit in Togo’s capital Lome.
The talks drew 18 heads of state — an unusually high figure for an AU meeting of this kind, signalling the importance that governments have placed on the need to cut piracy and other crime in Africa’s waters.
As he opened the summit, Chad’s President Idriss Deby, the current AU chief, noted that some 90% of Africa’s imports and exports are transported by sea, making maritime security key to the continent’s economic future.
Of the AU’s 54 member states, 38 have coastlines.
Deby said the charter would “allow the promotion of commerce and the exploitation of the huge potential of the maritime sector, as well as the creation of wealth and jobs in several industries”. It would also “mark a decisive new step in the push to preserve the maritime environment”, he added.
The deal will create new national and regional institutions to improve security in African waters, while the signatories pledged a string of measures to protect the maritime environment and fight trafficking in drugs, arms and people.
The AU said the deal would “solidify Africa’s commitment to an efficient and effective management of its oceans, seas and waterways so as to ensure sustainable, equitable and beneficial exploration of these critical resources.”
Togo’s Foreign Minister Robert Dussey told AFP ahead of the summit that there was a clear need for African countries to work together to combat an upsurge of piracy in recent years.
Piracy, smuggling and other crimes at sea have cost the African maritime sector hundreds of billions of dollars in recent decades, according to the AU.
Large-scale illegal fishing also helps drive piracy as it depletes stocks, reducing the legitimate economic activities of coastal communities.
In West Africa alone, the AU estimates that illicit fishing causes losses of 170 bn CFA francs ($285mn) every year.
“Most African countries that have a coastline are victims of one of these problems, which is why it’s so important for African leaders to sit down and try to find solutions,” Dussey said.
World piracy has been on the decline since 2012 after international naval patrols were launched off East Africa in response to violent attacks by mostly Somali-based pirates.
But the focus of concern has shifted to the Gulf of Guinea, particularly the waters off oil-rich Nigeria.
The perpetrators are often offshoots of militant groups from the Niger Delta seeking a fairer distribution of the revenues from the continent’s largest oil reserves.
At least 27 attempted or successful hijackings and kidnappings at sea have been recorded off west Africa since April, according to the International Maritime Organization, compared to just two off east Africa.
The 17 countries lining the Gulf of Guinea have poor maritime surveillance capacities and they have been trying for several years to boost cooperation to clamp down on piracy.