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PIRACY-SHIPPING-AFRICA
Surge in piracy off West Africa in 2018: maritime watchdog
KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 16, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Pirate attacks rose worldwide in
2018 due to a surge off West Africa, a maritime watchdog said Wednesday,
calling for increased international cooperation to halt the spate of
hijackings and kidnappings.
There were 201 recorded incidents of maritime piracy and armed robbery
last year, up from 180 in 2017, the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) said
in its annual piracy report.
“There is an urgent need for increased cooperation and sharing of
intelligence between the Gulf of Guinea’s littoral states so that effective
action can be taken against pirates,” an bureau spokesman said.
Reports of attacks in waters between the Ivory Coast and the Democratic
Republic of Congo more than doubled, accounting for all six hijackings
worldwide, 13 of 18 ships fired upon, and the vast majority of kidnap-for-
ransom cases, the Kuala Lumpur-based IMB said.
The last quarter of 2018 saw a significant spike in violence off West
Africa, with vessels boarded by pirates well outside territorial waters, and
crew kidnapped and taken to Nigeria where they were held for ransom, the
report said.
In that period, 41 kidnappings were recorded in waters off Nigeria alone,
the IMB added, saying that pirates are reaching further out to sea and
targeting a wider variety of ships, from fishing boats to bulk carriers.
The Gulf of Guinea, a coastal zone stretching thousands of kilometres off
West Africa, has now eclipsed the Gulf of Aden — off the Horn of Africa —
as the continent’s piracy hotspot.
Piracy in the Gulf, home to Sub-Saharan Africa’s two main oil producers
Nigeria and Angola, has seriously disrupted international shipping routes and
cost the global economy billions of dollars.
Countries in the region, whose surveillance and maritime defence
capabilities are limited, have been trying for several years to bolster their
means of intervention and to put in place closer collaboration, with the help
of the United States and France.
BSS/AFP/SSS/1651 hrs