STUTTGART, Germany — Three decades ago, the Defense Department’s top civilian for African affairs was in Sierra Leone as a young diplomat and noticed a strange sight on the horizon: Out at sea, a huge Chinese-flagged fishing vessel was harvesting one of the impoverished country’s most valuable resources.
Three decades later, foreign ships continue to gobble up the fish off of Africa’s coastlines, illegally plundering a natural resource that too many countries don’t have the resources to defend, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Vicki Huddleston said Wednesday during an Africa Maritime Security Conference.
Illegal fishing, “...goes on with impunity,” she said at the meeting of 170 defense and diplomatic leaders from the U.S., Africa, and Europe.
At the conference, which included officials from 19 African nations, the mission was to develop better strategies for combating the numerous security challenges that threaten Africa’s coastal nations.
And while a $5 billion-per-year illegal fishing industry has long been a scourge, other threats have emerged in the past decade that reverberate beyond Africa’s shore, officials said. Oil theft and black markets operating in the Gulf of Guinea — a multi-billion dollar enterprise — cause a global ripple.
“It makes oil prices go up for all of us around the globe,” Huddleston said.
The list of problems is long: Piracy off Somalia’s coast is wrecking havoc on the shipping industry; drug cartels are booming in western Africa, and human trafficking is on the rise, African Union officials said. Meanwhile, there is growing concern over the potential for drug traffickers to link up with terrorists, and pirates to connect with Al-Shabab — the al-Qaida-linked terrorist group in Somalia, U.S. officials said.
Yet as the threats have mounted, the capacity of African nations to confront those threats hasn’t kept pace.
Now, African leaders are attempting to coordinate a continent-wide strategy for dealing with security shortcomings. But resources are limited and priorities must be established, according to the AU, a security alliance of African states.
“The challenge is big to have a coherent strategy,” said Erastus Mwencha, the African Union commission deputy chairperson.
Mwencha said the AU is working on a plan to integrate the various maritime strategies of its members and better share information about potential threats. However, more political will on the continent is needed to make those reforms, he said.
The U.S. role in this effort will be limited to support functions, military leaders said.
U.S. Africa Command chief Gen. William E. Ward, who played host to Wednesday’s event, said the role of his command is to lend its expertise when called upon. But despite numerous U.S. interests on the continent, which range from the military to the commercial, Ward said AFRICOM is not in a position to dictate.
“This command does not impose itself. It responds to requests (for support),” Ward said. “Imposed strategies don’t work.”
That sentiment was echoed by Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Johnnie Carson, who said the U.S. aims to serve as a partner.
There are no hidden agendas, he said.
“We have no interest in injecting ourselves into the protection of those assets,” Carson said.
The African Partnership Station, AFRICOM’s signature maritime security program, is an example of the work the command can do on the continent, Ward said.
Launched in 2007, the program focuses on teaching African navies and coast guards the basics of how to guard its waterways. Patrol techniques, vessel maintenance, and using radar to track ships transiting territorial waters are some areas where AFRICOM has assisted.
But as threats, such as Somalia, persist, the U.S.’s partners will likely be looking for more from it and other nations.
Mwencha, talking about the ongoing AU peacekeeping mission in Somalia, said: “We have appealed to the international community for more support.”
