Pirates prowling the Gulf of Guinea have attracted relatively little global attention. That may now be changing
COMPARED WITH those in Somalia, the pirates prowling the Gulf of Guinea have attracted relatively little global attention. That may now be changing. A recent report by One Earth Future, an NGO, says that the region experienced more incidents of piracy last year than anywhere else in the world. The report adds to a growing chorus of international concern about west Africa’s piracy problem. A shipowners’ association has called for the deployment of international navies to the region.
Their concern is justified. West Africa’s pirates are much deadlier than those in Asia or Latin America. In the latter two regions, most piracy takes the form of petty theft: someone clambers aboard a ship docked at port to swipe a few items or mug a sailor. West African pirates used to specialise in stealing oil from tankers. But since 2014, when oil prices plummeted, they have copied their Somali counterparts and focused on kidnapping crews for ransom.
West Africa lies awkwardly in between the two. Most of its pirates are from the poor and lawless Niger Delta region of Nigeria. The Nigerian government is more functional than Somalia’s and would resent foreign ships or private guards in its waters. But it has its hands full with insurgencies, banditry and local conflict on land. Its navy is thinly spread and ill equipped. Until the Delta is better governed, do not expect the pirates to disappear from the seas off west Africa.
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