The Gulf of Guinea stretches along the coastlines of West Africa, including countries like Nigeria, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, and of course, Benin. It is a strategic region for international trade, particularly for oil and gas exports. However, it also faces major security challenges, mainly related to piracy, trafficking, and illegal fishing. In 2020, more than 90% of global maritime kidnappings occurred in the Gulf of Guinea, according to the International Maritime Bureau (IMB). In this context, Benin plays a crucial role in strengthening maritime security in this critical area.
Numerous and Robust Initiatives
Strengthening Naval Capabilities. Benin has significantly invested in bolstering its naval capacities to address maritime threats. The Beninese Navy has been equipped with new ships, and the maritime prefecture with modern surveillance technologies. These investments allow for better patrolling of territorial waters and more effective responses to incidents at sea.
Regional and International Cooperation. Maritime security in the Gulf of Guinea cannot be ensured without close cooperation between the coastal countries. Benin actively participates in several regional initiatives, such as the Yaoundé Code of Conduct, adopted in 2013. This code aims to promote cooperation and coordination among countries in the region to combat illicit maritime activities. Benin also collaborates with international partners such as Belgium, the United States, France, and the European Union, who provide support in training, equipment, and intelligence sharing. Joint naval exercises are regularly organized to improve interoperability between civilian and military actors and the operational capacities of national navies in the region. These include Obangame Express and Grand African NEMO (GANO), two exercises organized by the Yaoundé Architecture in collaboration with the national navies of international partners. In 2024, the Obangame Express exercise, held from May 15 to 28, gathered more than 4,500 sailors and maritime legal experts from Africa, Europe, and other regions. Its main objective was to strengthen regional cooperation in support of the Yaoundé Code of Conduct and to improve Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA). Following this, the GANO 2024 exercise will take place at the end of the year. It will be an opportunity to develop regional cooperation on maritime security and expand participation to new partners within the Yaoundé Architecture. An ambitious training component will also be implemented to prepare the participants.
Development of Maritime Surveillance. The implementation of sophisticated maritime surveillance systems within the Yaoundé Architecture is another cornerstone of Benin’s strategy. The Multinational Maritime Coordination Centre for Zone E (CMMC-E) based in Cotonou plays a key role in monitoring maritime activities. Additionally, Benin has established a surveillance system for its maritime façade and the land borders at Hillacondji and Kraké. This system uses advanced technologies to monitor the movements of sea users and detect behaviors deemed suspicious.
Legal and Institutional Strengthening. Benin has also strengthened its legal framework to combat maritime crime. Specific laws have been enacted to criminalize piracy, and specialized courts have been established to prosecute these offenses. Moreover, efforts are being made to improve coordination between the various government agencies involved in maritime security, such as the national navy, the maritime prefecture, the special river and maritime police unit, and the maritime and river customs service.
Persistent Challenges
Despite the progress made, Benin and its regional partners continue to face significant challenges. Monitoring vast expanses of water is complex due to limited logistical capacities and the high cost of surveillance technologies, while pirates are becoming increasingly sophisticated, using advanced technologies and complex tactics. Underlying socio-economic factors, such as poverty and unemployment, also fuel piracy. For a sustainable solution, it is essential to strengthen surveillance capacities, improve regional cooperation, invest in the socio-economic development of coastal communities, and implement reintegration and awareness programs.
Fighting Corruption. Corruption within law enforcement and government institutions has long hindered the effectiveness of maritime security initiatives. However, the Government of Benin has undertaken significant reforms to strengthen transparency and accountability.
These efforts include the establishment of rigorous monitoring and auditing mechanisms, as well as training programs for security agents.
Inclusion of Local Communities. Involving local communities in maritime security initiatives has also enhanced their effectiveness. Local fishermen and other sea users play a crucial role in providing intelligence and participating in community surveillance programs. The Beninese government has ensured that all these communities are included in decision-making processes and benefit from the economic development initiatives that accompany maritime security efforts.
Benin is undoubtedly a key player in maritime security in the Gulf of Guinea, with robust initiatives and dynamic regional and international cooperation. While challenges persist, the progress made demonstrates a clear commitment to securing this strategic region.
By continuing to strengthen its naval capacities, improving its legal and institutional framework, and collaborating with local and international partners, Benin can play a decisive role in creating a safer and more stable maritime environment in the Gulf of Guinea.
Rear Admiral Fernand Maxime Ahoyo, Maritime Prefect of Benin
Cooperation at the Heart of Maritime Security in the Gulf of Guinea
For those interested in maritime security, the Gulf of Guinea presents an unusual theater in many respects, requiring particularly advanced cooperation among various actors. Due to its size, concavity, and the large number of transit ports, maritime traffic in the Gulf is characterized by a multitude of intersecting shipping lanes. Adding to this complexity are numerous fishermen taking advantage of still-abundant fish stocks.
This bustling activity immediately gives a sense of complexity to an observer reviewing the « AIS situation » in the area. However, it only partially reflects reality, as many vessels turn off their transponders to avoid becoming targets for pirates, whose activities have not entirely disappeared. These factors make the Gulf of Guinea a more challenging maritime theater to manage than one might initially believe.
Significant Criminal Activity
This complexity provides an opportunity for traffickers and other criminals. Countless illegal fishermen deprive the region of 1.5 to 3 billion euros in revenue, depending on the source. Increasingly large seizures of cocaine indicate an exponentially growing drug trade, making the Gulf of Guinea, according to the UNODC, the main artery supplying Europe. While this threat primarily targets Western countries, corruption is gradually infiltrating transit countries, and consumption is spreading due to falling prices and in-kind payments to logistical intermediaries. Fuel smuggling is also a scourge, plundering local economies and posing an ecological threat to the region, particularly its fishing industry. Lastly, uncontrolled maritime migration flows destabilize the states.
Multiple Actors in Maritime Security
These threats, which affect both the region and much of Europe, have led several actors to become involved in maritime security. Many non-African countries (Spain, Italy, Denmark, Great Britain, India, the United States, Russia, China) occasionally or regularly deploy units at sea. International entities have also launched initiatives or programs.
These include, without aiming for exhaustiveness, the UNODC (mentioned earlier), GI WACAF (the Global Initiative for West, Central, and Southern Africa of the International Maritime Organization against marine oil pollution), the « Friends of the Gulf of Guinea » (G7++), SEACOP (combatting illicit maritime trafficking and criminal networks funded by the European Union/EU), PESCAO (Improving Regional Fisheries Governance in West Africa/EU), and GoGIN (Inter-regional Network for the Gulf of Guinea for Improving Maritime Security and Safety/EU). The multiplicity of these initiatives complicates the overall vision of their actions and the effectiveness of their combined efforts.
Regional entities also quickly took up maritime issues. On the fishing front, the CSRP (which will soon celebrate its fortieth anniversary), CPCO, and COREP illustrate the region’s early awareness of overfishing issues. At the scale of the Gulf of Guinea, the existence of the Yaoundé Architecture (an interregional cooperation framework for maintaining maritime security and safety), established eleven years ago by ECOWAS and ECCAS, shows that these concerns have been extended to the entire spectrum of maritime security.
Benin: The Effective Framework for State Action at Sea
Finally, countries themselves did not wait for these regional or international initiatives to address the situation. Benin, in particular, published the Beninese Strategy for Maritime Protection, Security, and Safety as early as 2012. This document quickly translated into a significant capacity-building effort, reflected in the acquisition of patrol boats and the establishment of a complete semaphore chain. The recent promotion of the maritime prefect to the rank of rear admiral illustrates, beyond the personal merits of Admiral Ahoyo, the maturity of the organization of State action at sea.
Indeed, Benin has adopted a unique organizational approach, not based on a coast guard corps but on the concept of cooperation known as State Action at Sea. This singular concept, also implemented by France, distributes the state’s missions among the administrations present at sea by defining « leaders » and « contributors. »
The action is then carried out by each administration responsible for the deployed means but remains coordinated by a single authority: the maritime prefect. This system proves to be remarkably effective.
June 2024, Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Gabon, Congo, Senegal, Guinea, Togo and France gathered at the Préfecture Maritime in Brest, France, for a conference on State Action at Sea. Brest (France) for a conference on “Action de l’Etat en mer”, an opportunity to strengthen inter-allied collaboration and exchanges. In uniform,
left, Rear-Admiral Fernand Maxime Ahoyo, Préfet Maritime du Bénin, center, Vice-Admiral Jean-François Quérat, Maritime Prefect for the Atlantic.
FRANCE’S ACTION IN THE GULF OF GUINEA
At the scale of the Gulf of Guinea, the global challenge is to work towards an approach that is tailored, effective, and respectful of each partner’s prerogatives. This is the delicate task of the Yaoundé Architecture, made all the more complex by the multiplicity of actors and the intertwining of their respective interests. The French Navy is one of these actors. Its naval resources are commanded from Brest, France, by the Commander-in-Chief for the Atlantic (CECLANT), who is also the Maritime Prefect, and proposes cooperative actions such as the SIREN maritime academy at sea, the Grand African Nemo (GANO) regional and interagency sea exercise, and certain multilateral actions in the operational field.
The SIREN maritime academy at sea is a unique and recent concept aimed at offering advanced training to trainees from the navies and administrations of countries in the region aboard an amphibious helicopter carrier deployed in the Gulf of Guinea. This academy is built on four pillars: a theoretical training component (conducted by numerous partners), practical exercises, enhanced mutual understanding through the on-board experience, and finally, a writing capacity – developed by the trainees themselves – to benefit the countries of the region or the Yaoundé Architecture.
Grand African Nemo, launched in 2018 and co-organized with the Yaoundé Architecture, has gradually established itself as one of the major maritime security events, involving over 3,000 personnel from all administrations of West African coastal countries in 2023. The exercise is based on three principles: it aims to contribute to the promotion of the blue economy, focusing on scenarios for combating illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing and pollution; it is developed with and by the Gulf of Guinea countries themselves during various planning conferences organized by the Yaoundé Architecture and CECLANT; and it benefits from the participation of numerous international actors (the European programs ENMAR, GoGIN, SEACOP, the European agencies EMSA and EFCA, UNODC, INTERPOL, MAOC, Cedre, CEPPOL, ISMI, etc.). Their presence allows for the design of complex situations, with realistic scenarios, and engages all participating administrations.
Finally, as this is indeed the ultimate goal, CECLANT also cooperates in the operational field itself. This is the case, for example, with Senegal, where, based on intelligence provided by MAOC-N, the French Navy has acted in concert on several occasions with the Senegalese Navy to locate and intercept boats suspected of drug trafficking; or with Benin and several countries under the CPCO to conduct fishing control patrols, with the support of the EFCA (European Fisheries Control Agency) through the former European program PESCAO. The latter identified areas where situations seemed suspicious, the French Navy – sometimes supported by the Italian and Spanish navies – deployed assets to confirm the criteria of suspicion and relayed the information via YARIS (the maritime information-sharing platform for the Gulf of Guinea) to the CPCO and local navies to enable intervention by regional patrols and agents.
This is how France’s effort in the Gulf of Guinea is realized today, in active cooperation with multiple actors. Many challenges remain, extending beyond the purely military and security domain. Maritime security in this strategic area is, and will remain, one of the missions to which the French Navy’s Atlantic Command will continue to contribute for a long time to come.
Vice-Admiral Jean-François Quérat
Commander-in-Chief of the French Navy for the Atlantic, Maritime Prefect of the Atlantic
Source: TheatrumBelli
