From November 4 to 11, 2024, the Grand African NEMo 2024 exercise (GANo24) took place, co-organized by the Yaoundé Architecture and the National Navy. This large-scale annual exercise brought together 16 Gulf of Guinea coastal nations[1] and 9 partner nations[2]. GANo24 took place over a vast maritime area stretching from Senegal to Angola.
GANo is an operational cooperation exercise with an international purpose, aimed at contributing to the development and strengthening of maritime security in the Gulf of Guinea, a key priority in this strategic area.
A major maritime zone with its 6,000 km of coastline exposed to illicit trafficking and crime, these cooperation efforts enhance mutual know-how and help improve interoperability between civilian and military actors on various issues (AEM), such as combating illicit trafficking, illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing, marine pollution, and search and rescue operations.
This 7th edition brought together 25 partner nations. The exercise involved nearly 70 complex scenarios with 55 units at sea, 12 aircraft, and numerous expertise or command centers on land, totaling more than 4,000 people from different administrations working for maritime security in the region. For the first time, Mauritania participated in this exercise with the engagement of the patrol vessel Timbedra, demonstrating its commitment to increasing cooperation with its neighboring nations along the Gulf of Guinea. The French armed forces deployed a light surveillance aircraft from the Air and Space Force, the amphibious helicopter carrier (PHA) Dixmude, and sent about twenty liaison officers to the operational centers on land.
GANo24 also involved maritime and aerial action resources, as well as command and coordination centers on land from the participating navies and coastguards. In terms of capabilities, new vectors were deployed to test operational approaches in a multinational environment, such as surveillance and reconnaissance drones from the Ghanaian navy. Additionally, chains involving Civil Security, Customs, Maritime Affairs, Immigration Services, and Justice services were activated; a mock trial was organized by UNODC in Zone D based on evidence collected during the zonal scenario on combating illicit trafficking.
With the aim of developing regional interoperability and trust among actors, and for the first time in GANo history, the Ivorian navy deployed the patrol vessel Fadika in support of the zonal scenario in Zone F.
GANo24 was carried out with the support and expertise of many regional and international organizations such as: the European Union with the Enhanced MARitimes Action (EnMAR) project in the Gulf of Guinea, GoGIN II for supporting the YARIS information-sharing network within the Yaoundé Architecture, and SEACOP for actions against maritime illicit trafficking and criminal networks; INTERPOL and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) also provided valuable expertise in combating maritime crime; CEDRE, the French expert on accidental water pollution; MAOC-N supporting the fight against drug trafficking in the Atlantic and Mediterranean maritime domains; and finally, the subregional fisheries commissions of West Africa (CSRP-CPCO) and Central Africa (COREP) were key partners of GANo24 in combating IUU (Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated) fishing.
The French National Navy supports the Yaoundé Architecture, notably through the training it offers to all African countries: the SIREN course, the training component of the GANo exercise, or the African NEMo operational training cycle, to foster the sharing of specific know-how in a multi-threat, multinational environment to prevent offenses and piracy in the region.
About the Yaoundé Architecture
The interregional cooperation architecture of the Yaoundé process is a common maritime security architecture decided by the Heads of State of the Gulf of Guinea coastal countries during a summit in Yaoundé, Cameroon, in June 2013. This architecture consists of the interregional coordination center, an information exchange and coordination structure, which links the Central African Maritime Security Regional Center and the West African Maritime Security Regional Center. The coastal area is divided into five operational maritime zones, with activities coordinated within five multinational coordination centers.
Source: Defense Gouv
