Piracy attacks on Gulf of Guinea decrease - Dep. Minister of Foreign Affairs

The Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Kwaku Ampratwum-Sarpong, has disclosed that piracy and robbery attacks in the Gulf of Guinea (GoG) have reduced over the last three years.

Giving statistics to collaborate his point, the Deputy Minister said the menace had dropped from 68 cases in 2020; 18 in 2021; 15 cases in 2022 and down by five cases in the first quarter of 2023.

Speaking at the opening of the ECOWAS stakeholder meeting on maritime safety and security in Accra Tuesday, September 5, 2023, Mr Ampratwum-Sarpong said the region had been able to achieve the feat due to strong collaboration and cooperation among the maritime authorities in the member states.

“Since the adoption of the ECOWAS Maritime Strategy (SMIC) in 2014, significant progress had been made in strengthening maritime surveillance, ensuring the safety and security of maritime areas and promoting better management of the maritime environment,” he said. 

The three-day meeting is intended to strengthen coordination and collaboration between stakeholders for full operationalisation of the ECOWAS maritime security architecture designed to combat illicit maritime activities in the sub-region.

The programme brought together mid-and high-level government officials, including military personnel from Ghana, Cote D’ Ivoire’, Benin, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Togo.

Mr Ampratwum-Sarpong said stronger collaboration would further reduce piracy in the region to its barest minimum, commending all the member states for their work so far.

He noted that safe and secured maritime space would help to promote businesses in the region, hence boosting the economies of the sub-region.

He has, therefore, implored all the member states not to relent their efforts in further working together to secure the region’s maritime domain.

Mr Ampratwum-Sarpong also charged the member states to work together to over some of the challenges confronting the maritime space, pointing out that issues such as insufficient equipment, inadequate staffing, unpredictable financing, and the limited interface of the system which did not display and track vessels of interests beyond the GoG region ought to be addressed.

The ECOWAS Commissioner of Political Affairs, Peace and Security, Ambassador Abdel-Fatau Musah, pledged the readiness of his outfit to continue to work with the member states to ensure the safety of the region’s maritime domain.

He said his outfit was committed to maritime safety and that it would provide the needed support to achieve such goal.

For him, stronger collaboration and coordination as well as the pooling of resources for the collective good of the region must be a topmost priority for all the member states.

Amb. Musah also called for enhanced civil society awareness on ways to tackle issues of piracy and other threats to the maritime security in the sub-region.