The Security Council today urged countries of the region of the Gulf of Guinea to be united in order to respond effectively to the growing threat of piracy along their coasts.
The Security Council also called for a prompt action to develop and implement strategies to counter piracy and armed robbery at Gulf of Guinea.
In a unanimously adopted resolution, the Council also urged the countries, through regional organizations, to work towards the convening of the planned joint Summit of Gulf of Guinea States to develop a regional anti-piracy strategy, in cooperation with the African Union.
Moreover, the Council encouraged international partners to provide support to regional States and organizations to strenghten their capabilities to counter piracy.
Today’s action comes two days after the UN political chief told the Council that a comprehensive regional strategy is critical to successfully combat piracy in the Gulf of Guinea.
“Gulf of Guinea countries need a united front in order to respond to effectively counter prevalent piracy in the Gulf of Guninea. Isolated national initiatives are only temporarily, at best, pushing the pirates to shift their criminal operations from one country to the next.” – B. Lynn Pascoe, Under Secretary-General for Political Affairs
He told the Council that piracy increasingly undermine efforts by States in the Gulf of Guinea region to maintain peace, security and stability.
Mr. Pascoe stresses that the threat has become even more alarming as the pirates have become more vicious and violent.
On ocotber 2011, the world’s body voiced concern over increasing piracy, armed robbery and reported hostage-taking in the Gulf and warned that the crimes were having an adverse impact on security, trade and other economic activities in the region.
On November 2011, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon has deployed a team to assess the scope of the piracy threat in the Gulf of Guinea and make recommendations for possible United Nations support in tackling this scourge.
While the waters off the coast of Somalia rank number 1 in the world for piracy and armed robbery at sea and the Gulf of Guinea on Africa’s west coast ranks closely behind in the number 2 spot, the two regions have different scenarios and different types of crime.
Reports say West African subregion loses $2 billion annually to maritime attacks.
