Red Sea nations step up maritime cooperation as regional threats grow
As maritime tensions ripple across parts of the Middle East, security officials from Ethiopia, Yemen, Djibouti and Somalia gathered in Nairobi this week to tackle a shared concern: how to protect the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden from growing threats that no country can manage alone.The two-day Maritime Law Enforcement Dialogue, facilitated by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) with support from the European Union, INTERPOL, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), focused on strengthening information-sharing and cooperation across the region.For officials attending, the timing was hard to ignore.“If you are talking about threats, the current attacks on the freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz have an impact on Gulf of Aden because [they are] affecting maritime security. Pirates use this opportunity and the distraction of the maritime forces globally to do more attacks in this area, because they know that everyone is busy [looking in another direction],” said Abdurrahim Muhammad Ali of the Djibouti Maritime Authority.
© UN Nairobi
Mostafa Elbanna, Global Maritime Crime Gulf of Aden and Red Sea Programme Coordinator and Head of Office Somalia at the 5th Regional Maritime Law Enforcement Dialogue for the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.
