Sunday, October 27, 2013
West and central African leaders on Saturday said they were
determined to cooperate on combatting piracy in the Gulf of Guinea as
they met in Senegal to discuss maritime security in one of the world's
most dangerous seas.The Gulf, which includes waters off Nigeria,
Africa's largest oil producer, has emerged as a new danger zone with
pirates targeting fuel cargo and loading it onto other ships to sell on
the lucrative black market, rather than seeking ransom to release ships,
according to the International Maritime Bureau (IMB).
"The
scourges of piracy, terrorism, extremism and banditry at sea as well as
other organised crimes affecting our common maritime domain are, in
combination with other factors, threatening our collective security,"
said Kadre Desire Ouedraogo, the head of west African bloc ECOWAS's
Commission.
"Our presence here today is a clear illustration of
our commitment to address these challenges in pursuit of the collective
interest of our respective regions."
As well as the Economic
Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the meeting in Dakar gathered
leaders of the Economic Community of Central African States and the
Gulf of Guinea Commission to discuss setting up a centre in Cameroon
responsible for coordinating anti-piracy efforts across the region.
The
meeting was a follow-up to a June summit in Cameroon which set out an
anti-piracy strategy in response to a request from the United Nations
Security Council.
According to a report released by the IMB in
June, west Africa has overtaken Somalia as the world's piracy hot-spot
with 966 sailors attacked last year compared with 851 in Somalia.
IMB
estimates the costs of the stolen goods in the Gulf of Guinea in 2012
at between 25 and 75 million euros ($33 million to $100 million).