Yachts and Piracy - Africa Acts
by Mail & Guardian/Cruising Editor on 30 May 2006
Gulf of Guinea SW
The growing aggressiveness of pirates in several corners of the world has finally brought more action that will assist the long range cruising sailor. Last month the Prime Minister of Somalia signed an agreement with the US Navy to patrol Somali Territorial waters, and now a major conference will target other African waters, especially the oil-rich Gulf of Guinea.
Two hundred delegates representing 47 countries and 13 international organisations are expected at the second Sea Power for Africa Symposium, Captain Obiora Medani of the Nigerian navy told Agence France-Presse.
The heads of 38 African navies will be in attendance.
Discussions at the United States-sponsored forum will cover a number of topics including security in African waters. On the security issue, delegates will study the particular situation in the Gulf of Guinea, Medani noted, based on a case study produced by the commander of US Navy forces in Europe and Africa, Admiral Harry Ulrich.
The US has offered help with policing the waters of West Africa, which Ulrich, in a visit to Gabon in February, warned was home not only to pirates but also poachers, drug smugglers and human traffickers.
Earlier this month six heavily armed pirates robbed a Russian tanker off the coast of Guinea, making away with all cash on board.
Pirates have for many years proved a serious problem in East Africa as well, where they have hijacked ships off the coast of Somalia, taking advantage of the lack of any functioning government in the Horn of Africa nation.
At least 41 hijackings and attempted seizures have been recorded off Somalia since mid-March 2005, according to the International Maritime Bureau.
In the last year, US warships, along with other maritime nations involved in the US-led war on terror, seemed to pay much more attention to yachts transiting the Gulf of Aden while they patrol the international waters.
This is the second Sea Power for Africa Symposium, first held in Cape Town in 2005. While it is primarily a US initiative to improve maritime security in waters off the continent for ships, the sailing community stands to benefit as the waters off the African coastline are made safer.
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