Issue 1, April 2021
Welcome!
In this first edition of SWAIMS News, we bring you a roundup of the latest developments from Support to West Africa Integrated Maritime Security (SWAIMS) – a project of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Regional Security Division. SWAIMS is funded by the European Union.
Read about how to curb insecurity in Nigeria’s Niger Delta, strengthen maritime governance in Senegal, our freshly minted high-level trainees from 11 countries, and people’s perceptions on how much pirates make from ransom.
But first, an editorial to ground us in the reality and immensity of the task before us all for effective maritime governance.
EDITORIAL: Maritime security and the quest for good governance
Supporting West African Integrated Maritime Security means taking a broad approach that ranges from governance framework, to capacity building, to equipment provision.
Following up on the Yaoundé Code of Conduct, the SWAIMS Project manifests the international dimension to combating maritime insecurity in the Gulf of Guinea. It is a shared problem with many different causes and many different criminal activities. At the heart of all efforts to advance security is the question of governance as stated in the vision statement of the ECOWAS Integrated Maritime Strategy (EIMS): “The vision for the EIMS is a prosperous, safe and peaceful EMD [ECOWAS maritime domain] for all its peoples that will allow environmentally sustainable development and wealth creation based on efficient management and good governance.”
West African states have to work with their partners to reinforce the rule of law across their territory. This means extending the reach of the security agencies and raising the quality of their intervention. SWAIMS is working hard to support these endeavours.
It also means working with all stakeholders in a broad alliance – civil society, academic communities and thought leaders, the formal and artisanal private sector, as well as multi-national corporations. While each sector has different priorities, all share a common interest in enhanced security and in establishing a rule-governed working environment. For the rule of law to reign, it is important to identify common ground and engage policymakers with one voice.
A key achievement of SWAIMS is bringing on board different actors to articulate their position. Over the past six months, five workshops have been organised where representatives from West Africa’s coastal communities candidly voiced their concerns on the impacts of sea crimes.
Most alarming is the sheer scale. From Conakry to the Niger Delta, coastal communities are subjected to the violent depredations of armed gangs, and the destruction – through illegal extraction or pollution – of the natural resource base community livelihoods depend on. Here, the line between victim and perpetrator becomes blurred. For example, young men from communities whose fisheries have been destroyed now turning to illegal activities.
While this highlights the need for holistic and concerted approaches, it also underscores the need for security actors to jointly protect livelihoods and natural resources. This joint action starts at the drawing board when planning: it means integrating actions against illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing and other natural-resource crimes into the regular workplan and mandate. Closer collaboration with the relevant departments such as fisheries is a first step, as is training and the formation of joint task forces.
To support this process, SWAIMS is working closely with partners, mainly ECOWAS’ Programme for Improved Regional Fisheries Governance in Western Africa (PESCAO), civil society and the private sector.
But for us one matter is clear: that the quest for maritime security will only succeed if the concerns of all partners are addressed. And that means extending our remit to the crimes that hit the most vulnerable communities the hardest.
In this expansive community spirit, please join us and other like-minded citizens around our shared planet in observing the United Nations International Day for the Fight against Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing on 5th June.
Webinar: Curbing insecurity in the Niger Delta
Over the past half-year, SWAIMS has held a series of webinars bringing together civil society organisations, researchers and policymakers. These events are part of a broader effort to provide a platform to sections of the community that have a stake in the maritime economy and are directly affected by insecurity, but whose voices are not always part of the policy discourse. Voices from the artisanal fishing sector, young people from coastal areas, women’s groups and community organisations. These webinars are a means for them to present their views on problems and solutions in a public forum to both a national and international audience.
Having previously convened civil society organisation (CSO) webinars for Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea-Conakry and Togo, SWAIMS organised the first event in Nigeria on 31st March 2021 on Curbing insecurity in Nigeria's Niger Delta.
On the topic Piracy and armed robbery at sea in the Niger Delta: current situation and solutions, Mr Nkasi Wodu, Peacebuilding Manager, Foundation for Partnership Initiatives in the Niger Delta (PIND), pulled no punches. “Piracy in the Gulf of Guinea emanates almost exclusively from Nigeria,” he said, adding that the Niger Delta was the staging point for attacks on ships in the high seas. The reasons are complex, but the contamination of land and water by the oil industry is a major contributor. Piracy is often intertwined with other forms of organized crime, militancy, cultism and oil bunkering – as theft of oil is called in Nigeria. This exacerbates societal cleavages and mistrust between the government and local populations by providing parallel systems of commerce. Military responses will not resolve this issue, unless accompanied by measures to meaningfully improve the livelihoods of Delta communities in the region. Engaging civil society in dialogue is a positive step in that direction.
Dr Ebinimi Joe Ansa, Researcher and Head of Department, African Regional Aquaculture Centre/Nigerian Institute for Oceanography and Marine Research, Port Harcourt, echoed Mr Nkasi’s viewpoints. Dr Ansa’s talk was on Oil theft and marine pollution in the Niger Delta: causes and potential solutions. Oil theft was estimated to have reached 400,000 barrels per day by the middle of the last decade. It has given rise to an indigenous refining sector, known as Kpo fire in local parlance, and another cause of intense environmental pollution. Kpo fire is a lucrative and labour-intensive industry, which provides scarce employment in this impoverished and deprived – yet ironically resource-rich – region. Establishing a framework where these hidden refiners can become formal economic operators is an imaginative and promising solution. It would lift entire communities out of the shadows and into the licit economy where refiners could be regulated and taxed.
Prof Stella Williams, Vice-President, Mundus Maris; and lead Researcher for the Nigerian Association of Fish Farmers and Aqua-culturists (NAFFA), decried the degradation of natural resources. Her topic was How IUU Fishing impacts small-scale fishers’ lives. She demonstrated Nigeria’s vulnerability to IUU fishing, the unsustainable methods that were being employed and how they led to declining catches, more migration and changes to species composition. To recover the lost productivity of marine and coastal ecosystems, Prof Williams called for investment in regional, artisanal economy. But she also went much further and beyond, exhorting the World Trade Organisation to urge China, Europe, USA, Korea and Japan to end harmful subsidies to the long-range fishing fleets that take most of the catch in West African waters.
The rampant criminality combined with the ecological degradation and the heavy security presence have all led to the exodus of many young people from the region. This is according to Mr Okechukwu Chidi Ogbonna, a criminology researcher at the Network of Law Enforcement and Regulatory Agencies Researchers (NETLAWR). Mr Ogbonna ‘s talk was entitled Human trafficking in the Niger Delta: Modus operandi and solutions. The Niger Delta is one of Africa’s largest human-trafficking departure points. Many seek to leave not only the Niger Delta but the country altogether. But once uprooted, these people are extremely vulnerable. Today, Nigeria is estimated to have more than one million people who are deemed to be slaves – the highest number of any country in Africa. A holistic approach is needed to effectively counter and break these interlocking criminal networks, and to improve the overall governance frameworks. Invariably, this requires a bottom-up approach including “a forum where every stakeholder in Niger Delta maritime community is represented at State and Local Government levels,” Mr Ogbonna urged.
The hard-hitting home truths and constructive proposals were heard by more than 70 attendants, including a good number from international organisations and the diplomatic community. It underscored the role of SWAIMS as a facilitator for debate and knowledge-exchange on maritime security.
Senegal: Strengthening maritime governance
One of SWAIMS’ outputs is to strengthen maritime policies and administrative structures to ensure that maritime security is benefitting from clear and streamlined organisational links, from the political level, through to the strategic, administrative and operational levels.
Thus in late 2020, two maritime experts were recruited with the operational experience, technical expertise and professional connections to provide a first assessment of the existing infrastructure – both in terms of the legal framework, and more importantly, the architecture of institutions and agencies. After a briefing by the previous Team Leader, the experts embarked on their first mission within the constraints imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The three country reports received thus far offer fascinating insights into the challenges faced by West Africa’s littoral states. Capacity and material constraints abound across the reports. As does the often suboptimal working relationship between different agencies such as navy, coast guards, marine police and fisheries.
As SWAIMS moves this component into the next phase, we will – jointly with the agencies – try to find ways of improving these working relationships through a tailored approach, bearing in mind that signatory countries to the Yaoundé Code of Conduct have very different priorities. As such, one size does not fit all. And while there may be commonalities across countries and basic commonly understood fundamentals, there is in reality no ‘standard package’ suitable for all countries.
As we learnt from Captain Cheikh Sarr’s Senegal report, the authorities work under the shadow of a looming threat, feeling under siege: “Encore épargné, par les fréquents actes de piraterie et de vol à main armée dans le Golfe de Guinée, l’espace maritime sénégalais reste le théâtre de trafic de drogue, de pêche illicite et de trafic de migrants vers l’Europe.” While the country suffers little if any piracy and/or armed robbery at sea, due to the relative proximity of the Canary Islands, there is a continuous flow of migrants, often in precarious conditions.
But most disturbing for the long-term viability of coastal communities is the high level of rampant IUU fishing. The ramifications run deep and wide. This industrial-scale destruction in the Gulf of Guinea (GoG) of what is a source of basic food and income for tens of millions is an existential threat at regional level.
These two constants – Senegal’s siege and the runaway IUU in GoG – call for a reset from a reactive approach where security services act in response to a crime being committed, to building a robust and proactive governance system emphasising prevention and conservation.
Consequently, it is all the more important – and urgent – to refresh the Yaoundé Architecture to ensure that the ongoing capacity-building in the region fits the purpose of all member states through a customised country-specific approach, while still maintaining a systemic and regionwide vision and approach.
As our mandate requires, SWAIMS will continue working with regional partners for improvements and enhancements that meet the particular needs of each country, all within the framework of the overarching regional system.
Congratulations to our graduates, heralding a ‘SAN-rise’!
We are delighted to announce that thanks to our good partners at the Regional Maritime University (RMU, Ghana) and l’Institut de sécurité maritime interregional (ISMI, Côte d’Ivoire), the first round of SWAIMS-supported training started right on schedule in January 2021 (see pre-commencement course announcements by ISMI and RMU).
Fast-forwarding to 2021 and the present, the trainees completed their courses last month, March 2021. They were drawn from 11 countries: Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea–Conakry, Liberia, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo. Flip through this album for a flavour of RMU’s colourful ceremony plus media coverage.
We are also pleased to announce the formation of the SWAIMS Alumni Network (SAN). SAN’s goals include:
- enabling graduates to keep in touch with one another and exchange information and ideas,
- providing a channel for feedback, networking and communication, including suggestions for improvements, and,
- disseminating relevant training and professional opportunities.
SAN speaks already! Hear about how the ISMI course went from an alumna, in her own authentic words below.
SAN alumnus profile: “This was a big eye-opener for we legal landlubbers!”
Her passion for law shines through whether she is talking about boarding ships, going up against a senior advocate in court or the intricacies of prosecuting maritime crime in Nigeria.
Meet Ndidi Gladys Ezinwa-Ukoha (pictured below), a Nigerian federal prosecutor since 2015. She currently works in the Department of Public Prosecution s of the Federation’s maritime crime group.
Ndidi was in the first cohort at ISMI under the FORMAR training programme sponsored by SWAIMS.
Specially designed for advocates and magistrates prosecuting maritime crime, this intensive and extensive course was packed into one week, running from 25–29 January 2021, and was aptly held in the bustling port city of Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire.
“If the seas are not protected, the whole country is on the verge of disappearing because our seas are our lifeline and one with our economy,” Ndidi observes. During the course, she heard candid appraisals of the maritime-crime issues facing other ECOWAS countries and Mauritania.
“The course’s highly interactive structure enabled us present our perspectives on different scenarios, while actual case studies helped us understand the intricacies of maritime crime,” Ndidi reveals. Maritime crime is a broad catch-all that includes, but is not limited to, piracy, IUU fishing and illegal trafficking, amongst others. “The course was perfect for meaningful and deep yet varied and broad group interactions to synthesise information, interact and exchange ideas,” says Ndidi.
But it wasn’t all theory and classroom. Towards the end of the course, the trainees visited an actual fishing vessel. “This was a big eye-opener for we legal landlubbers! We familiarised ourselves with the reality of life and work on the water,” she recalls.
One of Ndidi’s overriding concerns is the evidence chain of custody. “A criminal is intelligent, and has enough capacity. This is why investigators and prosecutors must pay very keen attention to evidence collection. Judges should also undergo training to help them better understand the complexities of maritime crime, and therefore preside over cases more efficiently. Nigeria’s Suppression of Piracy and Other Maritime Offences Act 2019 could help to better secure Nigeria’s maritime space, and serve as an example for other ECOWAS countries. The Act should however be amended to include other maritime crimes such a IUU fishing.”
Ndidi is available to lecture on maritime crimes. She can be reached through SWAIMS’ SAN Secretariat.
Your view: How much do pirates make?
In March 2021, SWAIMS partnered with colleagues from Enhancing Africa’s response to transnational organised crime (ENACT) to administer a web-based survey on this question.
The idea was to get an indication of what people imagined was the scale of the ‘piracy economy,’ in terms of money collected for ransom payments, by asking a group of selected informants including professionals working in maritime sector, academics and policymakers. Just under half had some experience of anti-piracy operations, meaning they were relatively well-informed on the issue.
It is striking that most respondents thought the overall piracy economy was relatively modest, somewhere between USD 20–50 million or less.
And although the sample was far too small (28 respondents) for any broad-sweeping inferences on perceptions, these modest preliminary findings can still inform policy and practice.
The survey also opened an important discussion on what criminologists call ‘transfer benefits’ gained by criminals and the communities they support with some of their crime proceeds. These criminal benefits need to be matched against the costs to the victim, including the attendant damage and repair, and the wider costs that are borne by society. These are more difficult to calculate, but two key components are the costs for the security forces and criminal justice system, particularly in the areas directly affected. And beyond that are the costs accrued by international shipping that include fuel costs for rerouting vessels, the insurance premiums, the costs of the companies settling disputes, fees for escort vessels in Nigerian waters, and safe anchorage.
This is precisely where ECOWAS’ Inter-Governmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA) comes in. Under the SWAIMS Project, GIABA will dig deeper to enhance our knowledge of the financial dimensions of maritime criminality, and to help bridge the gap between evidence-based reality and anecdotal perceptions (details in this press release).
Late in March, Muazu Umaru, GIABA’s Policy and Research Director, and Dr Jeffrey Isima, Principal Officer for Research and Planning, had the first in-person planning meeting with SWAIMS in Abuja, Nigeria. Among the key issues discussed was the methodology to be used in exploring the different financial circuits through which the proceeds of maritime crime enter local economies.
We aim to work with our partners to get a better understanding of both costs and ‘transfer benefits’ across the different maritime crimes. Such figures may help persuade policymakers and international partners that better coordination and small investments can yield exponential overall benefits. In the words of a survey respondent: “The development of international cooperation is not only a technical issue. It is also a matter of mutual efforts to bridge differences arising from legal cultures and systems and to implement common commitments on the basis of shared values. Mutual interest, mutual respect, mutual trust, mutual assistance and mutual benefits.
What next?
May
- Participation (panel) in Maritime Security Conference, 12th May
- Participation (panel) at the Fisheries Committee for the West Central Gulf of Guinea (FCWC) launch event for the Regional Monitoring Control, and Surveillance Centre in Accra, 13th May
- Visit to Nigerian security services and private-sector agencies in Lagos, 17th–22nd May
June
- SWAIMS Webinar with civil society in Senegal
July
- Workshop with civil society in Benin. Cotonou, Benin
Announcements
Upcoming international days and observances
SURVEY: Your opinion please?
Being entirely new, SWAIMS News is a work in progress. So now more than ever, your opinion counts and we value your feedback. Please take this very short survey that will only require less than a minute of your time, for which we thank you in advance.
|
|
|
|
