[Mindfully.org note: For every effect there is at least one cause]
West Africa—With oil supplies from coastal West Africa booming, the USA is set to implement the third and final pillar of its security policy in Africa through a revived African Coastal Security Programme (ACSP).
The scheme will parallel initiatives already running in East Africa and the Sahel, aiming to counter piracy and maritime terrorism, prevent smuggling and protect offshore resources. It is most likely to focus on the Gulf of Guinea oil-production zone, especially Nigeria, as well as the Bab al-Mandab oil-supply chokepoint (Eritrea, Djibouti and Yemen). In 2003, the International Maritime Bureau identified these two regions as having the highest (and rising) global incidences of piracy beyond Indonesia and Bangladesh. They are also among the world's least regulated waters, with 19 maritime jurisdictions lying between the oil rigs of Angola and Mauritania.
Each country is expected to be producing oil offshore by 2014, yet hardly any have operational navies. Even Angola, an established producer with the region's largest army and longest coastline, does not have a single patrol vessel. Not surprisingly, formerly prodigious fish and cephalopod stocks are disappearing as unlicensed foreign vessels clean up unchecked.
Under the ACSP, the USA could provide the region with additional naval vessels, radar and communications equipment, coastguard training and co-ordination. With a counterterrorism base already established in Djibouti, the USA may now seek a similar base for operations in the Gulf of Guinea.
NOTE: Sentinel Worldview is compiled by the Regional Desk Officers of Jane’s Sentinel for Jane’s Intelligence Review.
source: http://www.janes.com/security/international_security/news/jir/jir040506_1_n.shtml 7may04
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