The European Union said Thursday it plans to launch a new project this
month to boost maritime security around the Gulf of Guinea.
The important trade route that runs along the West Coast of
Africa has emerged as a piracy hotspot even as international efforts to
tackle piracy off the coast of Somalia seem to be meeting with success.
The International Maritime Bureau tallied 27 attacks off
Nigeria's coast in 2012, up from 10 in 2011 and 19 the year before, a
resurgence in the years after Nigeria's 2009 amnesty deal with
militants.
In the last two weeks of December alone, the bureau reported
three raids on ships off the coast of Nigeria that resulted in the
kidnapping of several foreign crew members.
The pirate activity threatens regional economies and important
shipping routes. The EU currently imports 13% of its oil and 6% of its
gas from the Gulf of Guinea
The EU said it would contribute EUR4.5 million to a project to
boost security in the region by providing training for coastguards and
establishing a network through which countries and agencies across the
region can share information.
The project will begin this month and include Benin, Cameroon,
Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Nigeria, Sâo Tomé and Principe and Togo.