As a global response to piracy off the coast of Somalia was taking place, alarm bells were ringing about a similar growing insecurity in the Gulf of Guinea. Today, the Gulf of Guinea stands as the most dangerous maritime area in terms of the success rate of attacks and violence. The United Nations Security Council adopted Resolutions 2018 (in 2011) and 2039 (in 2012) expressing grave concern about the mounting insecurity in the region and its consequences for regional and global security. (1) A United Nations (UN) team was deployed to the region to assess the situation. (2)

The UN resolutions and the report of the assessment team called on regional states and institutions, as well as the international community, to respond, and a code of conduct for the repression of piracy was adopted by Gulf of Guinea states in June 2013 at Yaounde, Cameroon, with wide international support. (3) Nevertheless, piracy in the Gulf of Guinea region remains a serious threat. Indeed, in the month following the adoption of the code of conduct a Maltese-flagged vessel, Cotton, was hijacked off the coast of Gabon, the first attack of its kind along that coast, portending a widening of the piracy threat southward. (4) It is also noteworthy that at the close of 2013 the Gulf of Guinea recorded more incidents of attacks on the high seas than in previous years. (5) This deepening threat has continued into 2014, as Angola and Ghana registered their first significant hijackings (analyzed below). These developments reinforce the urgency of effective counterpiracy measures. Realistically, however, the success and efficacy of both regional and global response will depend on a sound knowledge of the operational environment, awareness of the actors, and most crucially, understanding of how the situation has evolved.

This article provides a critical analysis of the piracy situation in the Gulf of Guinea. It sets the background with an overview of piracy statistics and a categorization of the coast according to the degree of risk of attack. This is followed by an examination of the paradigm of Gulf of Guinea piracy, while the third section analyzes the evolution of the piracy from its pre-2005 low levels into a regional and global threat. The fourth section summarizes Gulf of Guinea piracy and examines future projections. The article concludes with a discussion of the imperatives for enhancing maritime security in the Gulf of Guinea. It should be noted first that the geographical scope of the region referred to as the Gulf of Guinea varies depending on the issue or interest at stake. It is defined in this article as comprising the coastal states stretching from Senegal to Angola and as embracing the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS). (6)

OVERVIEW AND DISTRIBUTION OF GULF OF GUINEA PIRACY INCIDENTS

Piracy has historically been a threat to maritime trade and the good order of the world's oceans. (7) To ensure the security of sea lines of communication (SLOCs),...