Twenty member States of the Maritime Organisation of West and Central Africa (MOWCA) have adopted a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the establishment of a Sub-regional Coastguard Network for the West and Central African sub-region at the 13th General Assembly of Ministers of MOWCA.
The adoption of the MoU is a major landmark in a long-running campaign by IMO and MOWCA to improve maritime safety, security and environmental protection in the sub-region. It follows a feasibility study undertaken by IMO and the successful IMO/MOWCA forum on the establishment of an integrated coast guard function network for West and Central African Countries held in Dakar in October 2006. The MoU provides an institutional framework for suppressing piracy, armed robbery and other unlawful acts against ships and addressing illegal fishing, drug and weapon trafficking, illegal migration, oil theft, damage to gas pipelines and maritime accident response in the sub-region. It provides guidelines for coastal surveillance, presence in the exclusive economic zones of the sub-region and enforcement of international conventions, regulations and codes - principally those of IMO and the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). It has provisions on a “right of hot pursuit” in case of unlawful acts perpetrated against ships. IMO - the International Maritime Organization - is the United Nations specialized agency with responsibility for the safety and security of shipping and the prevention of marine pollution by ships.
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