Courtesy Photo | Photoillustration displaying the operating area of exercise Obangame Express 2024,...... read more read more
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The Yaoundé Code of Conduct (YCoC) provides a framework and governing instruction on maritime coordination and collaboration throughout West and Central Africa. Borne out of a need for a common regional strategy to address transnational threats in the Gulf of Guinea, the YCoC has been in place for over a decade and has proven an integral component of maritime security and stability in the region.
“In June 2013, the leaders of the Economic Communities of West African States (ECOWAS) and Central Africa (ECCAS), as well as the Gulf of Guinea Commission (CGG), met in Yaoundé, Cameroon, laying the foundations for a common regional strategy relating to the prevention and repression of illegal acts perpetrated in the common maritime space of West and Central Africa,” said Captain Emmanuel Bell Bell, Head of the Information and Communication Management Division at the Interregional Coordination Center (ICC). “The primary objective of the Yaoundé Code of Conduct is to manage and significantly reduce the adverse effects of acts of piracy, armed robbery against vessels and other illicit maritime activities, such as illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing.”
The heart of the YCoC centers on continued regional collaboration and a sense of trust among neighboring countries and YCoC signatories. Maritime threats are not relegated to one nation’s territorial waters, so collaboration is essential to the economies and livelihoods of all West African nations. What affects Senegal’s Exclusive Economic Zone can affect the waters of Angola and Namibia. Illicit activity off the coast of Cabo Verde can have repercussions in Gabon and the Republic of Congo. This interconnectedness presents challenges and opportunities.
“Given the maritime transnational threats facing the Gulf of Guinea, no State could effectively resolve this maritime security problem alone, hence the regional maritime security and safety strategies adopted by the Regional Economic Communities,” Bell Bell added.
This overall Gulf of Guinea information sharing framework divides the West and Central African maritime domain into a series of zones, with national Maritime Operations Centers (MOC) feeding information to the zone leads and into Maritime Multinational Coordination Centers (MMCC), located in Luanda, Angola; Douala, Cameroon; Cotonou, Benin; Accra, Ghana; and a final MMCC under development in Praia, Cabo Verde. These MMCCs then report to one of two regional-level coordination centers, the Regional Maritime Security Center for Central Africa (CRESMAC) in Pointe Noire, Congo, and the Regional Maritime Security Center for West Africa (CRESMAO) in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, with the overall responsibility for implementing the YCoC resting with the ICC in Yaoundé.
In order to truly hone a collective regional response to threats, exercise Obangame Express, by design, takes place across more than 6,000 kilometers in Western and Central African waters. Rather than partner nations coming to one country and one MOC to train, exercise serials will take place across all zones, from Senegal to Angola, mirroring the zones of the YCoC.
“The key to success in the Obangame Express series of exercises is leveraging the experiences, capabilities and functionalities of all of our African partners, and leveraging them across the entire Yaoundé Code of Conduct area,” said Capt. Harish Patel, Obangame Express exercise director. “Obangame Express participants are united in a common purpose – working together to ensure maritime security across Western Africa. We are excited to work toward that goal during the course of the exercise.”
For this overall maritime architecture to work, every step of information gathering and processing, from national MOCs to MMCCs, to the CRESMAC and CRESMAO, and ultimately to the ICC, must be coordinated and communicated to be successful. This is where multinational training opportunities like Obangame Express come into play.
Now in its 13th iteration, a primary goal of the exercise is to test this information sharing framework. It empowers African and international partners to identify, assess, and share suspect activity and potential threats with operations centers for further evaluation and, if needed, a coordinated response.
“Exercises like Obangame Express are an opportunity to test some pillars of the regional maritime security and safety strategy for the Gulf of Guinea, notably the exchange of information, the harmonization of operational procedures and the strengthening of cooperation between partners in the maritime sector,” said Bell Bell. “On a practical level, we are talking about testing the technical, procedural and human interoperability of all our navies based on realistic scenarios concerning maritime threats. In addition, Obangame Express grants a certain visibility to the architectural structures of Yaoundé.”
As partners and allies work together through various Obangame Express exercise serials, they know that the training they accomplish during the exercise has real world benefits throughout the year. Understanding and implementing the tenets of the Yaoundé Code of Conduct benefits not only those nations on Africa’s Western shores, but all participating partner and ally forces.
In place for more than a decade, the YCoC has become an integral component of West African maritime security. Through combined initiatives like Obangame Express, it will remain a model for regional and international collaboration for decades to come.
During exercise Obangame Express 2024, the 13th iteration of the exercise, partner and ally forces collaborate to enhance collective maritime law enforcement capabilities, bolster national and regional security in West Africa, and foster greater interoperability among U.S., African, and multinational partners. The U.S. routinely exercises with our partners in Africa to build enduring relationships and combined capacity to ensure the safety and security of the regional maritime environment.
For more information on Obangame Express, visit https://www.dvidshub.net/feature/obangameexpress2024 or https://twitter.com/usnavyEurope/. Please direct any questions or requests to cne_cna_c6fpao@us.navy.mil.
| Date Taken: | 05.08.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 05.08.2024 11:28 |
| Story ID: | 470655 |
| Location: | LIBREVILLE, GA |
| Web Views: | 121 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
This work, Enhancing Maritime Domain Awareness: Obangame Express bolsters Africa’s Yaoundé Code of Conduct, by LCDR Tyler Barker, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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