The Abuja Declaration and the challenge of implementing a maritime security strategy in the Gulf of Guinea and the South Atlantic

Abstract

ABSTRACTOver the past two decades, the significance of the Gulf of Guinea and the wider South Atlantic Ocean has become incontrovertible in view of the spectrum of geo-strategic interests – commercial, energy, military, security and political – converging within the zone. Due to its vastness and lack of capacity to exercise adequate writby littoral states, the maritime landscape have become some of the most dangerous in the world: with frequent incidences of piracy, oil bunkering, trafficking in persons, weapons, illicit drugs and fake pharmaceutics, and criminal activities that are undermining maritime safety and security. A major debate is now brewing- in scholarship as well as in public policy circles- on the implications of developments in the maritime domain for security and development in Africa; including those around the challenges and opportunities facing Gulf of Guinea countries. Drawing on the insights as well as outcomes of a major conference on ‘African Approaches to Maritime Security: The West and Central African Perspectives, this article reviewed the challenges and opportunities that West and Central African countries face in view of the threats posed from, and by, their maritime domains; and their implications for governance, security and development. It further examined the prospects for the emergence of a putative maritime security community in the Gulf of Guinea, and across the South Atlantic.