NIGERIA: international four day joint military exercise involving among other nations, the US and Nigeria in the Gulf of Guinea aimed at curbing the rising incidents of piracy in the region comes to an end

Record ID: 235497

  • Title: NIGERIA: international four day joint military exercise involving among other nations, the US and Nigeria in the Gulf of Guinea aimed at curbing the rising incidents of piracy in the region comes to an end
  • Date: 1st March 2012
  • Summary: OFFICERS LOOKING AT SCREEN
  • Embargoed: 16th March 2012 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Nigeria, Nigeria
  • Country: Nigeria
  • Topics: International Relations,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA44FVAP5OCZ3CCHWHC4GBS6M4J
  • Story Text: Pirates opened fire on a Dutch cargo ship a few miles from Nigeria's Port Harcourt, kidnapping the ship's master and an engineer and stealing cash, a security source and anti-piracy group AKE said on Thursday (March 01).
    The attack comes as African navy personnel along with European and American forces finished a four day joint military exercise at sea to exchange ideas on how they can better curb rampant piracy in the Gulf of Guinea.
    Navy officers and naval warships from US, Spain, Nigeria, Togo, Cameroon, Gabon and Ghana took part in the exercise code named "Obangame" to help strengthen regional capacities in combating pirates at sea.
    Nigerian officials said there has been an increase in the number of attacks by pirates on ships in the Gulf of Guinea waters.
    Also on the increase are drug trafficking, human trafficking and oil theft along the oil rich coastal region.
    Vice Admiral Ola-saad Ibrahim, Nigeria's navy chief of staff said most of the piracy was carried out by citizens of the countries bordering the Gulf of Guinea and that the joint exercise would be used to educate and warn likely offenders.
    "It is our citizens that are involved in piracy more or less. You see the coverage of Africa, we can always conclude like that. First we want to use a lot of publicity to educate them about the consequence of the kind of recklessness they bring about in our waters, but then when persuasion fails, the military deploys," he said.
    The US has been at the forefront of a campaign to strengthen the capacity of local naval forces from countries bordering the Gulf of Guinea to effectively ensure its interests in the region are safe from terrorist attacks.
    Nigeria supplies the US with nearly a quarter of its total fuel needs annually, most of which is found and derived from the Gulf of Guinea region.
    Captain David Rollo of the US navy said cooperative action between western forces and African countries was needed to stamp out illicit activities at sea.
    "What we are working on here is synergy and not just on piracy, but all illicit activities at sea, so the skills and the techniques and practices that we are doing here can be used to enforce all laws and manage all illicit activities at sea in the maritime environments," said Captain Rollo In East Africa Somali pirates operating in the Indian ocean nearly succeeded in halting international maritime trade through ambitious attacks on several gigantic sea vessels owned by international companies.
    Pirates off the coast of Nigeria and Cameroon tend to raid ships for cash and cargo rather than hijacking the crews for ransom like their counterparts off the coast of Somalia.
    However in light of the recent attacks, experts say this could be about to change.
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