Gulf of Guinea Maritime Institute (GoGMI) is hosting an Air Force and Navy Working Group to support an Integrated Subregional Air Strategy to further Implement the YAOUNDÉ Code of Conduct (YCoC)
A 20-25 person Joint (Ghana Air Force and Navy) Working Group (WG) is meeting at GoGMI in Accra, Ghana from 5th – 6th September 2024 to draft a Regional Air Strategy for further implementation of the Yaoundé Code of Conduct signed on June 25, 2013. The two-day expert-level meeting will bring together key stakeholders including the Ghana Navy, Ghana Air Force, ECOWAS Multinational Maritime Coordination Centre (MMCC Zone F), Ghana Maritime Authority, Ghana Civil Aviation Authority, Fisheries Organisations & United States Air Force (USAF) in Europe – Air Forces Africa (USAFE/AF). The WG IS funded by the USAF to ensure a sustainable process of improving African maritime security governance in the Gulf of Guinea. The concrete goal is to provide a recommended Integrated Regional Air Strategy to the three institutions: ECOWAS, ECCAS, and Gulf of Guinea Commission (GGC).
Background:
Twenty-five West and Central African Heads of State signed the YCoC – and in doing so committed themselves to a framework of regional cooperation to confront the full spectrum of maritime security threats from IUU fishing and environmental protection to illicit trafficking and piracy. Their innovative vision was to promote economic development through collaborative effort by YCoC signatories to thwart transnational criminal activity in the maritime domain. Management of the organizational architecture (Zones, CRESMAO, CRESMAC, and CIC) for implementation fell to the three Regional Economic Community Institutions: ECOWAS, ECCAS and GGC. While it was anticipated that cooperation between the Air Forces and Navies/Coast Guards for Maritime Law Enforcement in the Gulf of Guinea (GoG), no written air strategy integrated the objectives of this vision. At the request of the three institutions, USAFAF is funding this GoGMI Working Group to draft a recommended Integrated Air Strategy for the Gulf of Guinea. USAFE, in partnership with the three African regional economic institutions and GoGMI, is committed to sustainable, effective programs to improve maritime security governance in the GoG, also in light of the in 2022 adopted UNSCR 2634 and the anniversary of the YCoC in 2023.
Discussion:
Objective: Support the three institutions (ECOWAS, ECCAS, GGC) in implementation of the YCoC:
Deliverable: Draft an Integrated Regional Air Strategy that incorporates both African Air Forces and Navies/Coast Guards to institutionalize long term cooperation and sustainability of maritime security governance in the Gulf of Guinea.
Source : GoGMI
