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VOLUME 2 : ISSUE 7

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|| March 2021 ||

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ABOUT US

WHITE BLACK LEGAL is an open access, peer-reviewed and refereed journal provide dedicated to express views on topical legal issues, thereby generating a cross current of ideas on emerging matters. This platform shall also ignite the initiative and desire of young law students to contribute in the field of law. The erudite response of legal luminaries shall be solicited to enable readers to explore challenges that lie before law makers, lawyers and the society at large, in the event of the ever changing social, economic and technological scenario.

With this thought, we hereby present to you

WHITE BLACK LEGAL: THE LAW JOURNAL

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The Gulf Of Guinea and challenges to enforcement of maritime laws for international security-implications for sea transport

( By :Promit Acharya,)

Abstract

Situated in the northernmost part of tropical Atlantic Osean from Cape Lopez in Gabon, north and west to Cape Palmas in Liberia is famous for the intersection of the Equator and Prime Meridian which is in the gulf, Gulf of Guinea is a challenge for enforcement of the maritime laws. The gulf is a sector which is affected by the dominance of piracy. Though sea piracy has a very long history, the phenomenon has developed in past 25 years in the gulf region. The region attracted the U.S. attention after the publication of “More than Humanitarianism: A Strategic U.S. Approach towards Africa” in 2005.

This paper shall deal with the problems that are arising in the Gulf of Guinea relating to the enforcement of the Law of the Seas. Following this introduction, the paper also introduces Danish interests in maritime security issues in the Gulf of Guinea. It introduces a very broad understanding of the problem by accounting for how a number of onshore challenges are of direct relevance to the problem of maritime insecurity in the GoG. Some of these challenges have also been referred to as root causes. It shall also argue that these types of piracy need to be understood in relation to a range of other maritime security challenges including illegal fishery and smuggling. It also provides an overview of some of the most important regional initiatives as well as a brief description of some of the extra-regional actors who are already engaged in the region with a view to strengthening maritime security. This section provides the backdrop for a discussion of some of the risks that external actors should pay attention to

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when contemplating how to contribute to the development of a safer maritime environment in the Gulf of Guinea.

Key Words:- Gulf of Guinea, Piracy, Challenges, Regional initiatives, Extra- regional actors

Introduction:-

Geographical Location:-

Gulf of Guinea, is a part of the eastern tropical Atlantic Ocean of the western African coast. It extends westward from Cap López, near the Equator, to Cape Palmas. Its major tributaries include the Volta and Niger rivers.

The coastline of the Gulf of Guinea forms part of the western edge of the African tectonic plate and corresponds remarkably to the continental margin of South America running from Brazil to the Guianas. The coincidence between the geology and the geomorphology of these two coastlines constitutes one of the clearest confirmations of the theory of continental drift.

The continental shelf of the Gulf of Guinea is almost uniformly narrow and widens to as much as 100 miles (160 km) only from Sierra Leone to the Bijagós Archipelago, Guinea-Bissau, and in the Bight of Biafra. The Niger River has built a great delta of Holocene muds (i.e., those less than 11,700 years old)—

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and it is only here that the fit between the African and South American tectonic plates is seriously disturbed.1

Piracy:-

Pirates are developed because of the state’s incapacity to meet certain need of such people. This need are either unequal distribution of wealth of the state, corruption in the concerned state, weak institutions and inefficiency of the state to deal with these problems, political instability in the concerned state and also any types of armed conflict with this people2.

Piracy, as defined under UNCLOS, is an act of inciting and facilitation of illegal acts including violence, detention or depredation, committed against the ships or aircrafts on the high seas primarily to meet private ends. The United Nations Convention on Laws of the Seas (UNCLOS) has made it a punishable offence.3 The convention falls short to define the act of piracy inside the territorial sea. Resolution A.1025(26) of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) defines it as an armed robbery against a ship or any vessel inside a state’s internal, archipelagic and territorial waters.

Lord Murphy categorically establishes a nexus between the existence of piracy and sanctuary, i.e. an ungoverned territory with insufficient state interference, because such a territory has a favorable geography, unacceptability of certain culture, continuous conflicts and disorders, insufficient mechanism for enforcement of laws which leads to judicial and legal inefficiency.4

1 Encyclopedia Britannica, Gulf of Guinea Gulf Atlantic Ocean, (April 1 2020, 9:54 A.M.) https://www.britannica.com/place/Gulf-of-Guinea 2 Oyewole, ‘Pirate sanctuary.' 3 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOSE), 1982. 4 Murphy, ‘Piracy and the Exploitation of Sanctuary.'

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The suppression of such a criminal activity needs the utmost cooperation of the member nations by the committed campaign of sea powers and naval presence of the concerned stated in such region. It is also mandated under Article 100 of the UNCLOS.

Piracy in the Gulf of Guinea:-

The incidents of piracy were existing between the 16th and 19th century in this Gulf region due to incapacity of the pre-colonial African states to take actions against this. This thing continued till the end of 19th century with the intervention of the British Empire. The Royal Navy of the British Empire and several European powers were successful in destroying several pirate groups.5

The pirates re-emerged soon after the British Empire left their colonies in Africa. During the time span of 1970s and 1980s, they were specifically seen in the coastal areas of Nigeria, Democratic Republic of Congo, Cote-de-Ivorie, Senegal, and Sierra Leone.6

The main reasons behind this re-emergence were the combination of weak naval capacity, economical issues and corruption in the political space of the post-colonial African states. These reasons were also added up with poverty, inequality, corruption etc.7

The coasts of the East Africa and South and East Asia had experienced this criminal activity in the late 20th century.

5 Boot, ‘Pirates, Then and Now.' 6 IMO, “Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ship,” MSC 15/19, 15 October 1984. 7 Charles Ukeje and Wullson Ela, African Approaches to Maritime Security: The Gulf of Guinea, (Abuja: Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, 2013); Ukoha Ukiwo, “From ‘Pirates' to ‘Militants': A Historical Perspective on Anti-State and Anti-Oil Company Mobilization among the Ijaw of Warri, Western Niger Delta,” African Affairs, 106(425) (2007): 587–610.

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As of now, the main problems that lie in this area are

 Increased incidents of piracy, which counted 25 in 2005 and reached up to 59 in 2008.8  The pirates attacks have become sophisticated with the use of sophisticated weapons such as Ak-47, varieties of machine and sub- machine guns, pump action guns etc.  The violations against the seafarers have categorically increased. There were 140 reported cases of kidnapping in the time span of 2000 to 2014.9  There are around 62 incidents of tankers being hijacked and its products being shipped between 2009 and 2014.

These reasons along with the fact that the main source of revenue in this region is the oil, gas, gold, iron ore and bauxite, on which the potential economy is largely dependent, have not only increased the piracy threat in the Gulf region but also have attracted the attention of the International community in recent times.10

Reasons behind this growth:-

There were various reasons thet accelerated the growth of this piracy in the Gulf region. Among them the main reason was the inefficiency of the surrounding states to have efficient control over the water, which intern made it difficult for the states to enjoy their Exclusive Economic Zone significantly,

8 IMB, Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships: Report for the Period of 1 January – 31 December 2009 (London: ICC-IMB, 2010). 9 Maritime Piracy Event and Location Database (MPELD), 2015. 10Samuel Oyewole, Suppressing maritime piracy in the Gulf of Guinea: the prospects and challenges of the regional players, Taylor and Fransis Online, 23 Aug 2016, Pages 132-146.

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which helped the pirates to commit the crime of poaching, imposing heavy financial loss due do reduced seafood in the local markets.11

The unsettled territorial demarcations were another prime cause behind such acceleration. This dispute created an armed conflict between the surrounding states which caused a sigmificant economic loss and also made it difficult for such states to address the security challenges in the Gulf region in a collaborative manner.12

The pollution and environmental degradation was left unchecked in this area. The unawareness of the countries in this sub-region about the traffic and activity in their territorial waters has also helped such crime to grow in number. The unawareness id also marked by the lack of equipments, trained personnel and petrol boats.13

The countries surrounding this sub-region, though being signatories to several international conventions, have utterly failed to install such in their domestic laws. This is because of the week political will, lack of enactment of the legislation that will have the power to enable such, lack of enforcement machineries, and the corruption which compromises of the efficiency and capacity of the judicial system in such country.14

Impact of such piracy on the local people:-

11 Marine Resources Assessment Group, Review of Impacts of Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing on Developing Countries (London, UK: MRAG, July 2005); and calculations by Africa Center for Security Studies, Washington, DC. 12 Raymond Gilpin, Enhancing Maritime Security in the Gulf of Guinea, Strategic Insights, Volume VI, Issue 1, January 2007. 13 International Institute for Strategic Studies, The Military Balance (London, UK: Oxford University Press, 2006) 14 Kamal-Deen Ali, “Legal and Policy Dimensions of Coastal Zone Monitoring and Control: The Case in Ghana,” Ocean Development and International Law (2004), 179-194.

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The piracy has lead to a huge hindrance in the economic activity due to poaching. Poaching basically threatens the local fishing industry, which increases the cost of doing business and reduces the employment opportunities and income earning potential. It also hinders the movement of goods and services and also makes it difficult for the surrounding countries to fulfill the Sustainable Development goals laid down by the ECOSOC.15

Steps undertaken to suppress such crimes:-

Different steps have been taken at both global and regional level. While at global level the United Nations Security Council has taken up different steps along with International maritime Organization, several associations of different countries surrounding the Gulf region have also come up with different initiatives to suppress this crime.

UN Security Council (UNSC) Resolutions 2018 and 2039; and the UNSC Presidential Statement on Maritime Security in the Gulf of Guinea, issued April 2016. Even though there is some level of optimism about ongoing global and regional initiatives, UNSC have adopted two different resolutions, according to which, the IMO Assembly also adopted a resolution A.1069(28), in its 28th Session in December 2013, which spoke for the prevention and suppression of privacy, armed robbery against the ship, illegal maritime activity in the Gulf region.16 They seek to attain this status in the Gulf region by educating the local people, building capacity and standard setting and monitoring facilities.

In the regional level, a Ministerial Conference on Maritime Safety and Security on Gulf of Guinea, in Cotonou Benin on November 2006 which was organized

15 Supra 12 16 IMO, “Implementing sustainable maritime security measures in West and Central Africa,” January 2014.

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by the U.S. European Command, U.S. Naval Forces in Europe, U.S. State Department and African Center for Strategic Studies, where they categorically adopted some plans of taking steps to improve the surveillance and share the information, robust the laws applicable in the regulatory purpose, enhanced cooperation in the region and public awareness.17

In October 2006, 13th Annual Assembly of the International Maritime Organization for West and Central African States (MOWCA)18 was held in Dakar, Senegal, where the body recommended for an integration of the coast guard function in the region along with smoother legislation, practices and procedures. It also recommended implementing appropriate policies on Maritime Security.19

As of August 2006, Head of States meeting of Gulf of Guinea Commission was held in Libreville, Gabon, which formally launched an organization to counter the conflict and implement socio-economic prosperity and security in the Gulf region.20

Challenges faced during implantation of these steps:-

There were many challenges that have categorically hindered the implementation of these global and regional steps. The weak capacity of security operations in Angola, Congo, Democratic republic of Congo, Guinea and Liberia, due to insufficient supply of funds and the cost of mentaining such security which is beyond the economic capacity of these countries.

17 Supra 12 18 MOWCA member states are Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Côte D’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo. 19 Supra 12 20 Id

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The corruption of the law enforcement agencies, such as the bribery allegation on the authorities of Nigeria, and the non cooperative nature of the surrounding states, such as the dispute between Cameroon and Nigeria regarding the Bakassi Peninsular, have also added to the challenges.

The fact that the security that have been arranged for the purpose of suppressing the crime cannot be present at the coast all the time has given a undeterred motivation to the pirates to commit the crime again. Also according to the foreign policies, the security guard of one state should not be armed in the territorial waters. For this, the ships that are entrusted with the security operations are left with no other alternative but to recruit members from the registered security firms or sail without arms.

These challenges have greatly hampered the effective implementation of the global and the regional steps taken by different organizations.

Effects of such steps:-

The endeavor by six burglars to siphon oil from a tanker MV Arti appropriated by the Nigerian Navy (NN), while tied down at the Elegbeta Channel of Apapa, Lagos, was thwarted and those included were captured by the agents appended to NNS Beecroft on 12 September 2013.21

Apirate transport was appropriated and 16 outfitted men on board (Nigerian, Ghanaian and Togolese nationals) were captured by the Nigerian security agents along tank cultivate in Apapa.22 The suspects were captured regarding

21 Evelyn Usman, “Navy nabs suspected pirates,” Vanguard, 13 September 2013. 22 IMO, “Reports on Acts of Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships: Acts reported during August 2012,” MSC.4/Circ.188, 29 October, 2012.

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the commandeering of Panama-hailed British tanker Anuket Emerald off Lome Anchorage in Togo on 18 August 2012 and for siphoning its oil product.23

This is the situation when Cyprus-hailed MCT Troodos was boarded by six furnished burglars in Pointe-Noire Anchorage in Congo on 8 June 2015. A comparative encounter was recorded with a Hong Kong-hailed buck transporter Port Hainan in Bomo Anchorage in DR Congo on 18 August 2015 and a Marshall Island-hailed tanker Sea Force at mooring in Pointe-Noire in 18 November 2015.24 In every one of these cases, the burglars left the boats without taking.

In August 2013, the Ghanaian naval force (GN) blocked MT Mustard, along the nation's seaward oil office off the shoreline of Saltpond, and captured its group in association with the 3500 metric huge amounts of fuel directed from the Maltese-hailed tanker Cotton that was commandeered by privateers two weeks earlier.25

At last, many privateer asylums have been revealed and decimated with improved nearness of the security agents in the beach front zones of the district. In association with the seizing of Energy Centurion off the bank of Lome on 28 August 2012 and guiding of 3000 of its 56,000 tons of gas freight, the Nigerian security agents uncovered one of the most refined privateer organize in the district and captured huge numbers of those involved.26 Investigation uncovered that the privateer arrange kept up a few operational bases, arsenals and distribution centers the nation over. These incorporate the Igbokoda preparing

23 Wale Akinola, “Jitters in the oil sector amid crackdown on thieves, pirates,” Vanguard, 30 September 2012; 24 IMB, Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships 2015, 60–62. 25 IMB, Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships, 2009; 2012; 2015. 26 Evelyn Usman, “Top government officials, politicians contract us– Sea pirates,” Vanguard, 12 December 2012

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camp in Ondo State. The camp, where 13 suspects were captured, was found to have an arrangement for shooting range where volunteers were prepared in combative techniques and shooting.27 Weapons recuperated in the camp incorporated an automatic rifle, three ML rifles, three AK-47 riffles, one hatchet, 10 AK magazines, three ML magazines, 574 rounds of 7.62 mm, 44 live cartridges, 3 walkie-talkies, hazardous gadgets, long-run weapons, around 10,000 bits of ammo of various types, numerous undefined weapons, stepping stools and an operational map.80 Many different bases, bequests, inns and springs kept up by the system were additionally revealed and assaulted by the security agents. The JTF further revealed and attacked some other privateer havens in Robot and Okpoko rivulets in the Niger Delta in June 2014.28

Conclusion

Records of theft and furnished burglary against ships in the GoG have been a significant security worry in the area and the universal network. Be that as it may, arrangement examiners have dedicated deficient thoughtfulness regarding evaluate the variety of submitted endeavors to smother robbery, the record of accomplishments and difficulties experienced, in the area. The game plan to stifle theft in the district has been driven by provincial players and upheld by the worldwide network. Thusly, improved maritime nearness, oceanic policing and target solidify in the area have expanded the quantity of blocked, caught and killed privateers just as thwarted assaults, safeguarded casualties and devastated havens. Nonetheless, the accessible security nearness stays

27 Wale Akinola, “Jitters in the oil sector amid crackdown on thieves, pirates”; This Day, 7 December 2012. 28 “JTF repels attack, kills three suspected pirates in crossfire,” Vanguard, 25 June 2014.

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inadequate to stop each privateer assault as the criminal inspirations have suffered in the GoG.

Episodes of theft and equipped burglary against ships have declined in the GoG from 52 occurrences in 2013 to 42 and 31 cases in 2014 and 2015, respectively.29 Although this pattern is wonderful, how robbery has definitely diminished off the shoreline of Somalia, Gulf of Aden and the Red ocean has become an example of overcoming adversity of counter-theft lately. Occurrences of theft and furnished burglary against ships off the bank of Somalia, Gulf of Aden and the Red ocean have declined from the 236 episodes recorded in 2011 to 75 episodes in 2012, 15 episodes in 2013, 9 episodes in 2014 and no episodes in 2015.30 This example of overcoming adversity is started on the mediation of world driving ocean power, improved objective solidify, submitted endeavors to state working in Somalia and improvement in human advancement in the region.31 This improvement has accordingly demonstrated that planned outside intercession and improved objective solidify measures are more compelling measures against robbery than the frail local reaction and constrained objective solidify in the GoG.

Robbery has declined in the east bank of Africa, despite the fact that Somalia has stayed a most pessimistic scenario of a practical state. In spite of the fact that the shortcoming and poor human improvement records of numerous GoG states have kept on inspiring privateers in the locale, Somalia and different nations in the East Africa, Gulf of Aden and the Red ocean are worse good examples right now. Also, the immediate mediation of the main ocean power is less alluring in the GoG, given the manner in which outer military nearness has

29 IMB, Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships, 2015. 30 id 31 World Bank, The Pirates of Somalia.

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convoluted emergencies in the political history of numerous states in the region.32 A comparative explanation is answerable for obliging remote private security firms as target solidify against robbery in the region.33 Many of the GoG states are post-strife social orders, which are attempting to incapacitate and reintegrate a considerable lot of their residents and keep up interior solidness. This likewise clarifies why huge numbers of them keep up constrained security nearness at the ocean. Right now, worldwide network needs to understand that particular outside mediation and coordinated efforts on security, and backing for state building, are promising measures against theft in the GoG.

Against this foundation, there is a superseding need to improve state limit and perceivability in the GoG. Democratization, great administration and straightforwardness are totally required to improve portrayal and convenience of the populaces in the state structure in the district. This will assist with building vital institutional ability to convey open merchandise and make the state to be all the more strategically and monetarily noticeable to the populaces in the district. Likewise, the ability to keep up lawfulness in each ward in the area requires critical political duty at the neighborhood and universal levels. There is a need to address the issue of debasement among security agents and outfit them with important inventories. A reasonable legitimate system to stifle theft is past due in all the GoG without it. Better joint effort in tasks, and arrangement harmonization and coordination are required at the provincial level. In all these, the global network is required to help the duties to improve

32Clapham, Christopher, Africa and the International System: The Politics of State Survival (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996). 33 Gumedze, Sabelo (ed.), Merchants of African conflict: More than just a pound of flesh (Pretoria: ISS, 2011).

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state limit, advance human improvement and end theft and other sea violations in the area.

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