Fifteen African countries, including host South Africa, committed to a Sea Power for Africa Symposium (SPAS) Declaration of Intent during last week’s continental maritime summit in Cape Town.
The symposium, said by SA Navy (SAN) Public Relations to be the fifth of its kind, wrapped up business with nine “key outcomes” and a call to action by SA Navy Chief, Vice Admiral Monde Lobese.
Topping the “key outcomes” list is strengthened regional collaboration, explained partially by a need to break down barriers to inter-naval co-operation, share maritime domain awareness information and conduct regular joint maritime exercises. Another is accelerating implementation of the AIMS (African Integrated Maritime Strategy) 2050 by way of joint maritime patrols, “reinforcing information sharing between maritime domain awareness centres (MDACs)” as well as starting conceptualisation of the Combined Exclusive Maritime Zone of Africa (CEMZA).
An SA Navy post-symposium statement has it “Chiefs of navies from across Africa embraced Lobese’s call for unity encapsulated in the concept of Sisonke (‘together’ in isiXhosa)”. The emphasis on “together” stresses “a collective resolve among African naval forces to enhance collaboration in addressing maritime security challenges”. This is to be taken further by way of regional governance which will see an African Union (AU) maritime sub-committee to implement key maritime security initiatives. Another team will be set up to formulate the implementation of AIMS 2050 which, when complete, will be presented to Chiefs and Heads of African Navies.
Other outcomes adopted included support for the Lomé Charter (the African Charter on Maritime Security and Safety and Development); “prioritising engagement between African navies and African defence industries in naval acquisitions”; and future Sea Power for Africa symposia to be held every two years with Nigeria to host the 2026 iteration.
Country Declaration of Intent signatories listed by SAN Public Relations are Algeria, Angola, Burundi, Cameroon, Congo, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Namibia, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa and Togo.
The call to action was Lobese’s fare thee well to symposium delegates with him urging them to “immediately return home and put the plans discussed into practice”.
“We must take immediate action and keep trying different approaches until we see a significant improvement in addressing our marine security concerns. We cannot fail our people in this task,” was how he ended his contribution to the symposium.
