EU Launches Project to Fight Piracy in the Gulf of Guinea
The European Commission announced an EU initiative to boost security and the safety of maritime routes across seven African countries in the Gulf of Guinea. The Critical Maritime Routes in the Gulf of Guinea Program will help governments in West and Central Africa improve the safety of their main shipping routes by providing training for coast guards and setting up a network to share information among countries and agencies in the region. The program will begin this month in Benin, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Nigeria, Sâo Tomé and Principe and Togo. The EU will provide 4.5 million euros ($5.9 million) for the project.
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The gulf currently accounts for 13 percent of oil and 6 percent of gas imports to the EU, but piracy and robbery, as well as drug, arms and human trafficking, pose a real threat to the region’s security, the EC said. “By making the waters safe, we are helping to boost trade and growth and provide more opportunities to make a living, which these countries desperately need,” said Development Commissioner Andris Piebalgs.