Addis Ababa, 29 June 2022 (TDI): The 1091st meeting of the Peace and Security Council of the African Union (AUPSC) took place on Wednesday. The meeting focused on the Maritime Piracy. During the meeting, Member and partner states emphasized the significance to adapt national and regional frameworks and strategies to counter emerging threats from the region.

Maritime Piracy in the Gulf of Guinea was one of the chief concerns for member states of the African Union. Meanwhile, piracy does not only have a regional impact but also affects global cooperation and activities. Therefore, other partner countries of the African Union also pay special attention to this issue.

Member and partner states emphasized adapting national and regional frameworks and strategies to counter emerging threats from the region.

The Importance of the Yaounde Code of Conduct

The initial action to deal with maritime piracy in Africa is to renew the Yaounde Code of Conduct. The Director of the Conflict Management Directorate of AUPSC emphasized the need to revitalize the 2013 Yaounde Code of Conduct.

Through the Yaounde Conduct, countries in and out of the Gulf of Guinea aim to curb piracy, armed robbery, and illicit maritime activity in West and Central Africa.

The Yaounde Conduct is a multilateral maritime code of conduct governed by the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), the Gulf of Guinea Commission (GGC), and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

Complementary maritime initiatives for the security of the Gulf of Guinea would also connect with the Yaounde Code of Conduct to obtain benefits offered by Blue Economy of Africa.

African Union Maritime Piracy
Sarjoh Bah, the Director of Conflict Management Directorate (CMD) in the African Union is speaking in the meeting.
Reasons for Stakeholders to hold Joint Activities

Furthermore, concrete joint activities between member states and partner countries are another essential part. Those joint activities have ability to curb the rising problem of maritime piracy in the Gulf of Guinea. Intelligence sharing and security operations are also crucial.

The African Standby Force (ASF) with partner countries and Regional Economic Communities (RECs) are usually responsible to organize such actions. The collaboration within the region of the Gulf of Guinea and the Indian Ocean is for better maritime security.

Also, focusing on the Blue Economy prospects, there are three main African continental strategy frameworks. Two of them are the 2050 African Integrated Maritime Strategy, and the African Union Blue Economy strategy. While the third one is the African Charter on Maritime Security and Safety and Development in Africa (Lome Charter).

Accordingly, above frameworks highlight important strategies and mechanisms to ensure safe and stable Gulf of Guinea.