Focusing the Yaounde Summit of 24-25 June 2013 on maritime safety and security in the Gulf of Guinea is an indication of the situation within the region which covers 26 countries in Africa. The Persian Gulf that initially harboured most of the world’s energy resources faced serious security problems that made it difficult for the world to depend solely on the region. Consequently, attention had to turn to other areas and the wealth of the Gulf of Guinea became the next target both for those in need of its resources and unfortunately, for snipers bent on inflicting pain on innocent people or those who want to get-rich-quick through illicit means. The result has been a renewed strategic interest in the resources of the Gulf of Guinea that require a close watch from law-abiding national and international bodies that want global peace.

Insecurity: Be it the problem of attacks by armed robbers and other organised groups, piracy and kidnappings of oil-sector operators for ransom, the dangers posed by organised gangs in the region are such that the political stability of affected countries can be in jeopardy. In addition, the number of countries involved and the vast nature of the area concerned are so much and require collective action. According to the International Crisis Group Africa Report N°195 of 12 December 2012 on the Gulf of Guinea, the region “has become one of the most dangerous maritime areas in the world. Maritim Insecurity is a major regional problem that is compromising the development of this strategic economic area and threatening maritime trade in the short term and the stability of coastal states in the long term.”

In announcing the Yaounde Summit on 16 June 2013, the Minister of Communications, Issa Tchiroma Bakary disclosed that the international Maritime Organisation recorded, in the Gulf of Guinea, 46 attacks in 2009, 38 attacks in 2010, another 53 attacks in 2011 and 60 in 2012. The figures therefore reflect the gravity of the situation.

Such a precarious situation is particularly worrisome given the number of countries involved – 26 in all. Apart from maritime crime, the rise in radical Islam in the Sahel has not made matters better. Thus, member countries of the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) have increasingly faced a rise in crime wave due to a rise in business activities along the Gulf of Guinea.

Destruction of Ecosystem: With the growing prospects of more oil exploration activities in the region, the environmental risks are evident. In the 18th century when the slave trade was at its peak, international interest in the Gulf of Guinea was economic, but the recent discovery of considerable oil and natural gas deposits along the coast and offshore has attracted several multinational companies into the zone; thereby creating fears that they might in the quest for economic gains destroy the rich fauna and flora of the coast and forest lands in and around the Gulf of Guinea.

With one of the largest oil deposits - 24 billion barrels of offshore oil reserves, representing 4.5 per cent of the world’s reserves, there are several concerns about security and safety in the Gulf of Guinea. Cases of oil spills observed in the shores of some industrialised countries have not only been damaging to the ecology of the areas, but would even mean much more to the Gulf of Guinea if such situations were to occur given the scarcity of means to face such environmental threats.

Rich Natural Resources: The top and subsoil of the Gulf of Guinea is abundantly rich with forest, fish, gas and oil. Instead of being considered as a blessing, such wealth can be the harbinger of ill luck as has been seen elsewhere on the African continent, in particular. With an important fish stock estimated at over one million tons, rich mangroves, bird nests and other shelter of maritime species, there is every reason to fear the eventual destruction of such natural resources.

Geographical Location: Besides the coastal regions of Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Benin and Togo as well as the Niger Delta, the Gulf of Guinea is also the Atlantic coast stretching from Senegal to Angola. Institutionally, the eight members of the Gulf of Guinea Commission (GGC) created in 1999 are: Angola, Cameroon, Congo-Brazzaville, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Nigeria, and São Tomé and Príncipe.

Such territorial spread opens the region to the entire world. Although the situation prevailed since the triangular trade, the recent intensification of economic activities within the area has created more concerns about the negative impact on the lives of its inhabitants, if care is not taken.

Experts have equally expressed fears that the countries concerned are so diversified that if concerted action is not taken, the various threats might get out of hand. These are therefore some of the factors that have favoured the convening of the Yaounde Summit next Monday.

Richard KWANG KOMETA