Wilfred Enow Agbor
Yaounde, Cameroon
Cameroon Minister of Communication, Issa Tchiroma Bakary, at the conference hall of his ministry organized a press conference to inform Cameroonians on the upcoming of the first ever summit of heads of states and governments of Economic Community of West African States on maritime safety and security in the Gulf of Guinea. The summit is scheduled for the 24th and 25th Of June 2013.
Issa Tchiroma Bakary, Minister of Communication
The summit, according to the Minister, stems from maritime crimes recorded by the International Maritime Organisation in the Gulf of Guinea as follows: 46 attacks in 2009, 38 in 2010, 53 in 2011 and 60 in 2012. Among these crimes were armed robberies, diversion of oil tankers loaded with crude oil, kidnappings of oil operators in demand for ransoms, illegal fishing which hinder the development of local communities and drug trafficking from Latin America to Europe and Africa. The United Nations Office Against Drug And Crime in 2010 reported 18 tons of cocaine valued at $1.25 billion dollars were transported to South Africa.
Member countries of the region to attend the summit are Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Sao Tome, Angola and Congo.
