European Union - Afrikan Heroes

Europe Takes Over Maritime Security in Gulf of Guinea

February 2, 2021

With the failure of efforts by governments around the Gulf of Guinea (GoG) to stop piracy, kidnapping for ransom and organised crime failed, the European Union (EU) has announced the launch of the pilot case of the Coordinated Maritime Presences (CMP) concept in the vast area.

This was contained in a document containing the outcome of proceedings approved by the European Union Council at its meeting held on 25 January 2021.

The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) had in 2019 hosted about 30 countries at the Global Maritime Security Conference. The high-level maritime security conference was meant to facilitate a clearer understanding of the challenges of maritime security in the Gulf of Guinea region and develop tailored solutions. However, two years down the line, this has not translated into a safer maritime environment in the region.

According to the document, the EU said it would henceforth ensure political control and provide strategic guidance to West and Central African States in an effort to address the many challenges to maritime security, including organised crime.

Specifically, it stated, “The West and Central African States, which bear the primary responsibility for combating maritime crime in the region, made political commitments already in June 2013 in the Code of Conduct concerning the repression of piracy, armed robbery against ships, and illicit maritime activity in West and Central Africa. These commitments have been pivotal in the progressive establishment of the Yaoundé Architecture’ to improve coordination and cooperation on maritime security.

Nevertheless, the Gulf of Guinea continues to face a challenging environment in which piracy, armed robbery at sea, kidnapping of seafarers, illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing, smuggling and trafficking of drugs and arms, as well as transnational organised crime pose a major and increasing threat to maritime security, affecting freedom of navigation, thus endangering major trade routes, jeopardising the sustainable development of the entire region and the economic livelihood of the population, and leading to the deterioration of the environment and biodiversity.”

Also, the EU affirmed its commitment to increasing work with the coastal states of the Gulf of Guinea and the organisations of the Yaoundé Architecture, through greater European operational engagement, by also ensuring continuity, reactiveness, complementarity and synergy between Members States’ actions.

Recalling both the EU’s Maritime Security Strategy and the related Action Plan, as well as the EU’s Strategy on the Gulf of Guinea and its related Action Plan, following the Council Conclusions of 17 June 2020, the Council said it is launching the pilot case of the Coordinated Maritime Presences (CMP) concept in the Gulf of Guinea.

“While being distinct from the CSDP missions and operations, the pilot case of this new EU initiative, reflecting the Union’s growing role as a maritime security provider, can provide a substantial contribution to addressing the security challenges in the Gulf of Guinea.

“In this regard, the pilot case of the CMP should allow the EU to: enhance the visibility of EU maritime presence and support the Union’s strategic and political objectives, including conflict prevention, in close cooperation with international and regional partners, promote international cooperation at sea, in line with international law and UNCLOS in particular, and the exchange of information in the maritime security domain in specific areas and use the CMP as a pragmatic maritime tool as part of the EU’s Integrated Approach,” it said.

The EU added, “In this framework, the Council: establishes the Gulf of Guinea as a Maritime Area of Interest (MAI) and welcomes the establishment of the Maritime Area of Interest Coordination Cell (MAICC); recognises the importance for the Member States to further improve the coordination of actions carried out by their assets deployed in the MAI under national command, on a voluntary basis.

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry

European Union To Add Mauritius, Other African Countries To Its Money-Laundering Black-list

May 6, 2020

The European Commission aims to intensify its scrutiny of states posing money-laundering risks, and is looking into creating a new body to help police financial crime and monitor banks more strictly, draft documents seen by Reuters show. One document, expected to be published on Thursday, adds Panama and other countries to an existing blacklist but spares Saudi Arabia and U.S. territories that had been put on an earlier list before being shelved in the face of objections.

Here Is All You Need To Know

A second document, also due on Thursday, suggests giving the European Union more powers to tackle financial malfeasance within the bloc after a spate of scandals at large banks dented the EU’s reputation.
The proposal, still subject to changes, says the EU could set up by 2023 a common supervisory body in charge of carrying out inspections at banks and possibly empowered to impose sanctions and identify suspicious payments.
The revised money-laundering list, expanded to include 22 from 16 states, is set to take effect from October.
Under the draft proposal, the Commission added Panama, the Bahamas, Mauritius, Barbados, Botswana, Cambodia, Ghana, Jamaica, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nicaragua and Zimbabwe to its list of countries that “pose significant threats to the financial system of the Union” because of failings in tackling money laundering and terrorism financing.
Banks and other financial and tax firms will be obliged to scrutinise more closely their clients who have dealings with these countries. Companies in listed states are also banned from receiving new EU funding.
But the higher scrutiny will only apply from October, the document says, due to disruptions caused by the current coronavirus pandemic.
Countries who were already on the list are Afghanistan, Iraq, Vanuatu, Pakistan, Syria, Yemen, Uganda, Trinidad and Tobago, Iran and North Korea.
All countries but North Korea have committed to changing their rules in order to better tackle money laundering and terrorism financing.

SAUDIS SPARED

The EU listing left out Saudi Arabia, the current holder of the G20 presidency. The Saudis were included in an EU draft list last year until that document was struck down by EU governments after pressure from the oil-rich kingdom.
That was an exceptional case as EU member states only rarely interfere with listings which are largely a competence of the Commission, the bloc’s executive arm.
Among other countries who were included in last year’s draft list but have now been spared are Libya and the four United States territories of American Samoa, U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and Guam. The listing of the U.S. territories had drawn criticism from Washington.
The new EU draft list largely reflects a listing compiled by the global Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which is the global standard-setter for efforts to curb money laundering.
The EU list however does not include Albania, a candidate country to join the bloc, and Iceland, a close trading partner of the 27-nation Union. Both countries are on the FATF list.
The Commission also intends to propose legislative changes next year to improve policing of financial crime with the aim of having them adopted by 2023. The plan follows financial scandals in Estonia, Latvia, Malta, Cyprus and the Netherlands that exposed how banks abetted or did not prevent money laundering.
The second document proposes a body tasked with “carrying out supervision of clearly defined obliged entities or types of activities for a given period of time”.
The supervisory body could include a financial intelligence unit to identify “suspicious international transactions and analysis of cross-border cases of financial crime”.

Source: Reuters

Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer who has advised startups across Africa on issues such as startup funding (Venture Capital, Debt financing, private equity, angel investing etc), taxation, strategies, etc. He also has special focus on the protection of business or brands’ intellectual property rights ( such as trademark, patent or design) across Africa and other foreign jurisdictions.
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