Photo By Staff Sgt. Krystal England | U.S. Navy participants of Obangame Express 2024 posed with Gabonese prosecutors and...... read more read more
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The West and Central African maritime exercise Obangame Express 2024 centers on identifying and investigating suspected illicit activity at sea. Whether piracy, arms, drug or human trafficking, oil bunkering, or illegal, unregulated, and unreported fishing (IUUF), this region faces many transnational threats in the maritime domain.
But what happens to those suspected of engaging in such illicit activity? What is the recourse to hold them accountable and to stop such activity in the future? This is the arena for an international team of legal experts, who trained participants on taking an activity from beginning to end, culminating in what is known as the “legal finish.”
“We saw a major breakthrough with legal finish in this year’s iteration of Obangame Express,” said U.S. Navy Cmdr. Beth Kontny, a Naval Forces Europe-Africa (NAVEUR-NAVAF) legal advisor and member of the Judge Advocate General Corps. “In both Ghana and Gabon. the countries’ maritime attorneys and judges participated in a full scale Mock Trial to ‘finish’ the maritime scenarios. Both countries used a completed scenario from Obangame Express to perform a full trial with multiple defendants, prosecutors, defense attorneys, judges, and witnesses.”
An experienced Obangame Express participant, Kontny gave three legal briefs during this year’s exercise, with topics including law of the sea, best boarding practices, and evidence collection. Kontny has been supported by a team of legal experts and trainers across multiple zones of the Yaoundé Code of Conduct, which stretches from Cabo Verde and Senegal in the north to Angola in the south.
“We have a team of partner attorneys and legal officers in each zone. They have been using injects to focus the operators on the legal aspects of interdiction such as flag state consent, maritime zone identification, evidence collection, and communication with prosecuting agencies,” Kontny said. “My colleagues in Cabo Verde, Ghana, and Nigeria have also been giving legal trainings to their local maritime operations centers.”
To successfully complete the scenarios in the exercise, participants had to adhere to legal principles throughout the evolution. This includes proper investigation and apprehension procedures, and coordinating with host nation governmental structures to enact the legal finish.
“Through multiple days of training and a mock trial, and with significant support from Japanese government, the Gabonese Government as well as the U.S. Navy team leading Obangame Express 2024, we demonstrated that the international and regional collaboration of the different partners is a resultant-provider to ensure a secure maritime space in the Gulf of Guinea [GoG],” said Aliou Sall, Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Officer of the UNODC Global Maritime Crime Programme for Central Africa. “This was a great success in supporting the overall meaning of Obangame Express 2024.”
The UNODC’s Global Maritime Crime Programme (GMCP) worked during the exercise to increase knowledge and skills for prosecutors, judges, magistrates, maritime law enforcement (MLE) agents, and judicial police officers to enable all actors in the chain of custody. The support also included technical assistance in the form of legal reforms in compliance with the International Convention on Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and other relevant conventions. Such support enables all actors involved in the chain of custody to be able to efficiently tackle all maritime illicit activities.
In this context, UNODC GMCP, through its project “Counter piracy in the Gulf of Guinea toward effective judication and legal finishing” funded by Japan, joined Obangame Express 2024 to deliver training to 35 Gabonese MLE agents, prosecutors, magistrates, judges and other experts, including 12 women. The combined team delivered a series of training on the Law of the Sea followed by presentation on the scientific requirement on the collection and preservation of evidence at crime scene, ended with a simulated trial.
Forensic training was delivered by a Togolese Police Officer, a certified Instructor by INTERPOL, who covered the modern techniques of the management of a crime scene, forensic photography, excavation techniques, the various traces on a crime scene, sketch techniques and fingerprinting concepts.
This “start to finish approach” proved successful for the combined team during the exercise. The outcomes of the trainings have been highlighted through the engagement and professionalism of participants when collecting evidence at sea and during the drafting of relevant statements reports and investigations reports from the scenario, which focused on armed robbery. Participants demonstrated a rigorous approach when playing the investigation protocol learned during the training delivered by UNODC GMCP.
Collaboration like this with all actors in the judicial chain, based on existent national legal framework in compliance with international conventions, set the foundation to reach the legal finish.
“GMCP thanks the Japanese Government for the funding provided to UNODC GMCP that enabled the realization of the series of activities integrated during Obangame Express 2024,” said Sall. “UNODC GMCP also extends its gratefulness to the U.S. Navy team involved in the exercise for their participation in our activities and taking this opportunity to reiterate The U.S. Navy’s commitment to continue collaborating with international partners to support GoG coastal countries to tackle maritime illicit activities.”
Though this specific training and legal evolution was under the auspices of Obangame Express, Kontny and Sall know that the lessons learned throughout the exercise will prove valuable in daily operations as well.
“One of the biggest problems this region and the Yaoundé Code signatories face is the logistics of prosecuting maritime crimes and illicit activity,” Kontny said. “Obangame Express 2024 was a huge win in my mind because of how it brought so many agencies and organizations together to improve overall prosecution procedures.”
Sall agrees, echoing these comments of the benefits of such cooperation in this region.
“The UNODC GMCP in Gabon has taken a leading role in encouraging central African nations to establish more bilateral legal agreements and country-specific standard operating procedures,” Sall said. “We must continue to find common ground in this area and continue to improve our procedures not only within individual nations, but across national and zonal boundaries as well. These maritime threats are not relegated to only one nation, so by working together on maritime prosecution, we ensure that the perpetrators of illegal activities have no safe place to hide in GoG waters.”
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: | 05.17.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 05.17.2024 12:47 |
| Story ID: | 471595 |
| Location: | LIBREVILLE, GA |
| Web Views: | 209 |
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