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The chiefs of the naval forces of Ghana, Ivory Coast, Sierra Leone and Guinea, the chief of the coast guards of Liberia and the high commander of the national gendarmerie of Burkina Faso have signed a memorandum of understanding. Agreement on Joint Maritime Operations in ECOWAS Sea Area F.
Collaboration, coordination and pooling of resources for the collective security of the maritime area F were the fundamental commitments agreed in the Memorandum of Understanding signed in Accra.
With this Memorandum of Understanding, ECOWAS intends to provide an important response to any kind of threat to maritime security in the Gulf of Guinea and more particularly in zone F.
The Chiefs of Staff of the Naval Forces, the Coast Guard and the High Commander of the National Gendarmerie of the six Member States of F Zone ECOWAS, met to sign the Memorandum of Understanding describing the operational framework for concerted and collective action against crime in the maritime F-zone. Domain and Gulf of Guinea.
For the countries of the maritime zone F and the Gulf of Guinea, the security of the exclusive economic zones (EEZ) is essential to develop and guarantee the sustainability of their blue economy, which affects different sectors, notably fishing, tourism, transport and trade. , offshore exploitation and many others.
To this end, the ECOWAS, ECCAS and GGC Member States have adopted the Yaoundé Code of Conduct and Memorandum of Understanding at a summit held in June. 2013 in Yaoundé, Cameroon.
The Yaoundé process established a new interregional architecture consisting of five interconnected multinational maritime centers and 17 national maritime operations centers.
The centers must coordinate operations and share information to ensure freedom of navigation at sea, combat illegal, unregulated, unreported fishing, illegal traffic, piracy and maritime crime.
The multinational maritime coordination centers (MMCCs) located in each of the five maritime zones of the Gulf of Guinea are at the heart of this information-sharing architecture.
The main role of MMCCs is to coordinate and share exploitable maritime information for effective enforcement of maritime law and governance.
With the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding, the MMCC in Accra will also be able to coordinate joint maritime patrols and enhance maritime security and safety in the region.
The MoU will also provide for the pilots of ships, which means that the personnel of the Member States will board another ship / aircraft to better exercise its jurisdiction at sea.
CCFM Zone F serves as a focal point for planning and conducting joint operations at sea.
Area F of the MMCC, located at Osu Castle, Accra, since the beginning of its operations in March 2018, served as a bridge for the continuous and continuous flow of information between the shipping agencies concerned and the stakeholders at the national, regional and international levels. .
MMCC F Zone also badisted various national maritime operations centers in building their staff capacity and working with stakeholders to strengthen interagency collaboration and coordination.
As part of the measures to exploit the combined badets of the Member States through joint and combined maritime crime operations.
MMCC Zone F, with the support of the Governments of Ghana, the United Kingdom and UNODC, brought together experts from the maritime operations of F-Area Member States in Accra to develop the Memorandum of Understanding on joint operations in zone F.
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