(Quick News Africa)- The European Union (EU) on Thursday launched its €9.2 million project aimed at fighting crime at sea in selected African countries.
The four-year programme, known as the Gulf of Guinea Inter-regional Network (GOGIN), will support nineteen coastal countries on the continent, stretching from Senegal to Angola, that are currently working together in a joint effort at fighting sea piracy.
The €9.2 million from the EU will specifically support the nineteen African nations in joint planning, coordination, communication, as well as in the development of IT infrastructure at national, regional and inter-regional levels.
“I’m delighted to officially kick-start GOGIN after several months of fine-tuning with my African colleagues,” said Jean-Pierre Labonne, who is the GOGIN team leader.
“Our long-term aim is to support peace, stability and economic and human development throughout West and Central Africa. My team and I will spare no effort to make GOGIN a success” Labonne assured.
GOGIN resulted from the “code of conduct on the repression of piracy, armed robbery against ships, and illicit maritime activity in West and Central Africa,” which was adopted in June 2013 at the summit of heads of state in Yaoundé, also known as the Yaoundé Process.
The project is co-funded by EU and by the government of Denmark, and is being implemented by Expertise France, which is the French agency in charge of international technical cooperation
The programme covers a massive area, including 6,000 kilometres of coastline and the adjacent waters from Senegal in the north to Angola in the south, as well as the archipelagos of Cape Verde and Sao Tome & Principe.
The area is rife with criminal or illegitimate activity, including piracy, kidnappings, armed robbery at sea, illegal fishing and oil theft. Other criminal undertakings in the area are trafficking in drugs, human beings, timber, arms and waste.
GOGIN underpins the Yaoundé Process by joining up existing national and multinational maritime security centres, coordinated by two regional coordination centres in Abidjan and Pointe Noire, which are also capped by an Inter-regional Coordination Centre in Yaoundé.
