European Union’s Role in the Maritime Security in Africa (original) (raw)
Related papers
(2014) "The African Union, the African Peace and Security Architecture, and Maritime Security"
The content of African maritime security as an emerging policy field is contested. It can be located anywhere between traditional security politics (related to piracy, maritime terrorism and unregulated fishing), developmental and environmentalist concerns, and efforts to regain economic sovereignty over African territorial and offshore waters. As a result, since approximately 2005 the institutional place of maritime security in continental politics has been in flux. This article traces the origins of the debate on maritime security in Africa. The main concern here is to examine the relationship between the nascent African Peace and Security Architecture on the one hand and maritime security and safety politics on the other from both an institutional and a political perspective. Maritime security represents one of a number of peace and security related policy fields in the making that also allows for insights into the division of labor emerging among various stakeholders, such as the African Union Commission, Regional Economic Communities, and African Union member states, and into the related challenges of policy coordination and harmonization.
Maritime Security Concerns of the East African Community (EAC)
AARN: Violence - War, 2016
The maritime domain of the East African Community (EAC) is affected by a number of maritime security threats, including piracy, armed robbery against ships and an ongoing maritime border dispute between Kenya and Somalia. Neither the EAC nor its member States have long-term and holistic maritime security policies. Maritime security is dealt with in an ad-hoc, case-by-case manner, mainly by individual States. This study investigates why the EAC is not taking a leading role in regional maritime security governance. The study has found that the lack of regional maritime security policies, more importantly maritime security strategy, and the absence of a maritime institutional framework at the Community level, appear to be major setbacks to regional maritime security efforts. Additionally, the EAC depends on its member States, inter-regional and international maritime security programmes which currently offer a significant boost to EAC maritime security governance. Nonetheless, an EAC m...
Maritime Security Concerns of the East African Community
The maritime domain of the East African Community (EAC) is affected by a number of maritime security threats, including piracy, armed robbery against ships and an ongoing maritime border dispute between Kenya and Somalia. Neither the EAC nor its member States have long-term and holistic maritime security policies. Maritime security is dealt with in an ad-hoc, case-by-case manner, mainly by individual States. This study investigates why the EAC is not taking a leading role in regional maritime security governance. The study has found that the lack of regional maritime security policies, more importantly maritime security strategy, and the absence of a maritime institutional framework at the Community level, appear to be major setbacks to regional maritime security efforts. Additionally, the EAC depends on its member States, inter-regional and international maritime security programmes which cur- rently offer a significant boost to EAC maritime security governance. Nonetheless, an EAC maritime security strat- egy would formalise and customise all of these strategies to match with regional maritime security needs. Moreover, it would provide a forum for communication and cooperation among maritime stakeholders.
The Nexus Between Prosperity in the African Maritime Domain and Maritime Security
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At the centre of ocean governance are the undefined concepts of ‘Blue Economy’ and ‘maritime security’. The AU has undertaken significant work in developing policies and strategies that address both these concepts, which deal with human interaction and its impact on the ocean. A thriving and secure African maritime domain depends on the ratification of these international developments by all African member states and the incorporation thereof into national strategies. As African countries move towards developing national maritime strategies it is important that the two dimensions – the provision of goods and services, and the protection and security of marine resources, property and life – are governed in an integrated manner that embodies the nexus between a thriving Blue Economy and an African maritime domain free from insecurity. RECOMMENDATIONS
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Maritime security appears to be assuming an increasingly more prominent place on the African security agenda. Although the growing scholarly debate and international responses seem to attend to more than piracy, the latter unfortunately skews perceptions about Africa's maritime landscape. The piracy focus suggests a limited problem-solving approach, but Africa's offshore domain calls for a more critical stance that entails more than anti-piracy. Perceptions and realities of maritime terrorism, piracy, illegal oil bunkering, criminality and unsettled maritime boundaries increasingly complicate traditional African threats and vulnerabilities on land. The growing range of threats requires a framework to explain events taking shape off West and East Africa in particular better. In this regard, the constituent elements of good order at sea house a more critical line to view security off Africa through safe access to resources (food and minerals), safe sea routes, as well as domin...
A BRIEF GUIDE TO AFRICA'S MARITIME SECURITY
A BRIEF GUIDE TO AFRICA'S MARITIME SECURITY , 2023
Maritime security in Africa is a critical issue with significant economic, political, and social implications for the continent. Africa's coasts and offshore resources, including oil and gas reserves, fishing stocks, and trade routes, are vital to the stability and prosperity of African nations. Ensuring the security of these resources is essential for the development of the region and for addressing a range of global challenges, including food security, energy security, and climate change. However, Africa's coasts and waters are also vulnerable to a range of security threats, including piracy, illegal fishing, smuggling, and human trafficking. These activities can undermine the stability of the region and have negative impacts on the environment, the economy, and the well-being of local communities. Given the importance of maritime security in Africa, it is essential for scholars to understand the challenges and opportunities related to this issue. This includes understanding the root causes of insecurity in the region, such as poverty, conflict, and governance failures, as well as the role of international actors in shaping the security landscape. It also includes examining the various approaches that have been taken to address maritime security challenges in Africa, such as regional cooperation, capacity building, and the deployment of naval assets. By learning about maritime security in Africa, scholars can contribute to the development of effective and sustainable solutions to the security challenges facing the continent. This knowledge is not only of academic value, but it can also inform policy decisions and shape the future of Africa's coastal and offshore resources.
African maritime security and the Lomé Charter: Reality or dream?
African Security Review, 2018
Traditionally the African concept of security concept has been dominated by land-based conflicts with little attention being paid to maritime threats and the protection of the maritime environment. With the rapid escalation of piracy on the East Coast, the African Union (AU) was compelled to develop a joint strategy to address its changing African Maritime Domain (AMD). This was achieved by the AU's Africa's Integrated Maritime Strategy (AIMS 2050) in 2014, culminating in the adoption of a binding maritime security and safety charter in Lomé in 2016. The Lomé Charter should ideally focus the general provisions of AIMS 2050 so that Africa, as a continent, can take responsibility for security and economic empowerment of the AMD. This article considers various maritime security documents against the backdrop of an African context for understanding maritime security, in order to evaluate whether the Lomé Charter, as a manifestation of AIMS 2050, will realise its aspirations. Focussing on security is not sufficient and too much emphasis is placed in the Lomé Charter on restriction rather than development. Strong political will and leadership is required to facilitate implementation, identifying common security concerns to ensure better cooperative and collective strategies in a diverse implementation environment.
MARITIME INSECURITY IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA AND ITS EFFECTS IN THE ECONOMY OF STATES
AUSTRAL: Brazilian Journal of Strategy and International Relations, 2020
It seems clear that African leaders are not aware of the maritime dimension of their states, which has led to subordination of maritime affairs compared to land issues, as it is essential that African states begin to take concrete steps in order to establish, on the continent, a true maritime security and defense architecture, with the aim of making the best use of the opportunities offered by the oceans, in the name of the interests of these States. The approach was possible, using a bibliographic and documentary review, through a qualitative methodology, following deductive reasoning.
International Relations and Diplomacy
The global challenges to maritime security have long outnumbered the classic interstate war. Increasingly, the new threats have assumed the most real risks, whether human, weapons or drugs traffic, piracy, illegal fishing among others. Some of these challenges, even if they are not in the European Union's primary strategic maritime area, they have relevant impacts on this. The unstable region of the Gulf of Guinea, for example, with its cases of armed robbery, piracy, or even trafficking (mainly human and drug trafficking) has attracted attention to the several EU Member States, with individual policies that are often poorly articulated. This paper is the result of field research with stakeholders from 17 South Atlantic countries (the research delimitation occurred in South Atlantic Peace and Cooperation Zone [ZOPACAS] members) and concludes that the exogenous (European) point of view of the major challenges that encourage the collaborative participation of the South Atlantic are, necessarily, the ones that have most demanded attention and engagement from the EU Members States. For example, the highest local priority in allocating resources available in the African coast Navies has been to face and control smuggling acts. The African States are seeing it as the biggest threat to its maritime security. The widespread problem of piracy appears only as of the third priority of the regional countries. Besides, the perception of the reputation of control centers coordinated by exogenous members (States and individuals) to the region does not result in joint information sharing engagement or even in maritime domain awareness. Thus, this paper that starts from the maritime security's typological conceptual presentation-as a complex, divergent, and convergent concept-presents empirical research and identified actions with potential for greater engagement in the South Atlantic region. It seeks to demonstrate the need for EU analysis of exogenous problems should increase the local point of view problem. It therefore serves both the reflection on many of the action points of the Action Plan of European Union Maritime Security Strategy (EUMSS) and on the competences involved by the EU, in particular, as regards the actual role of the EU and its Member States in relation to the maritime security aspects of EU internal policies and EU external relations, EU in negotiating, concluding and implementing international agreements in this area. On the other hand, it also relates to the accountability of EU Member States with other involved actors (the South Atlantic States, regional organizations, and/or local/multinational private actors).