海角大神

The dense mangroves of Nigeria鈥檚 Niger Delta region are known for their rich flora and fauna, as well as vast crude oil reserves.

In recent years, though, the region has earned a more shadowy reputation, highlighted by the Suez canal blockage that has forced more cargo vessels to sail along the West African coast. Gun-toting gangs have made the complex network of creeks their home, waiting to pounce on ships sailing through West African waters.

Some pass through the Gulf of Guinea every day, ferrying petroleum products or other cargo. The area is a major route for global trade.

It鈥檚 also the most dangerous.

Whereas sea piracy is declining globally, attacks are soaring in the gulf, whose waters wash the shores of more than a dozen countries from Senegal to Angola. Of 195 attacks that occurred on the world鈥檚 high seas last year, 82 were recorded here, to the International Maritime Bureau (IMB), including almost all crew kidnappings. Last month, 15 Turkish sailors were freed, after being captured in January. One engineer died.

Between 2015 and 2017, West African economies lost $2.3 billion to high seas crime, to the United Nations. Beyond the value of stolen goods, security personnel, equipment, and insurance.

Combating problems at sea is so challenging, analysts say, partly because of the region鈥檚 terrestrial problems.

In some countries, like Nigeria, counter-piracy efforts are overshadowed by conflicts at home, as well as the poverty that helps drive piracy in the first place.

鈥淢any Gulf of Guinea countries suffer vulnerabilities [because] of their [limited] capabilities,鈥� says Kamal-Deen Ali, director of the Center for Maritime Law and Security Africa. 鈥淚t鈥檚 even more difficult policing waters than land 鈥� once criminals get on water, they have the opportunity to go in any direction.鈥�

International coordination is key 鈥� but fraught in a region where Western interventions are often perceived as overreaching.

High seas, high crime

To sea watchers, the methods are familiar. A ship sails too close to the coast, and heavily armed men in speedboats corner it. The crew may make it to the ship鈥檚 citadel 鈥� a fortified room 鈥� but once the pirates are in control of the vessel, they can expect the ship owner to pay a ransom for the ship and its crew.

Attackers come mostly from Nigeria鈥檚 restive Niger Delta, the hottest spot in the gulf, where many feel exploited by government and oil companies alike. Today鈥檚 pirates emerged in the aftermath of a militant uprising in the mid-2000s, when youth picked up arms against outsiders they accused of plundering resources and degrading the environment while leaving the delta poverty-stricken.

Second Capt. Boris Oyebanji got a good look at some in May 2019. Pirates attacked his tugboat off the waters of Equatorial Guinea and captured him. Equatorial Guinean and Spanish forces responded to his distress call, and the pirates fled. But Mr. Oyebanji鈥檚 ordeal didn鈥檛 end there. Equatorial Guinea鈥檚 navy locked him up for two weeks until it was convinced he wasn鈥檛 a pirate himself.

Jacob Turcotte/Staff

The whole episode was so terrifying that he considered quitting seafaring.

鈥淚 haven鈥檛 returned [to the area] since then,鈥� says Mr. Oyebanji, who now works in the Persian Gulf. 鈥淪ailing on its own is risky, and fearing for my life every day I鈥檓 offshore is not something I want to do.鈥�

His vessel had been escorted by the Nigerian navy to Equatorial Guinea鈥檚 waters 鈥� one of several routine precautions ship owners take. Others include human dummies mounted on vessels like scarecrows and wires of spiked steel wrapped tightly around decks. Some vessels stay hundreds of miles off the coast of Nigeria, where they can鈥檛 easily be reached by the lurking speedboats, but more attacks are being recorded farther out at sea.

Coastal communities say they too, suffer. Villagers are sometimes caught in the middle when pirates and security forces face off, according to Princewill Solebo, a businessman in the bustling city of Port Harcourt, Nigeria. Fishermen have stopped venturing deep offshore to avoid run-ins, and villagers who travel on canoes are wary.

Mr. Solebo is holding town hall meetings to encourage villagers to expose gang leaders. But it鈥檚 a lonely mission. Members of the gangs 鈥� with forbidding names like Vikings or Icelanders 鈥� are often well known in the villages they hail from, he says, but most villagers are too scared to speak up or have been bribed to look away.

鈥淚 realized the reason [the pirates] have been consistent is that communities have not come together to confront this issue,鈥� Mr. Solebo says. 鈥淪ome people know these actors but they won鈥檛 talk, and you can鈥檛 do anything alone.鈥�

Teaming up

For several years, governments in the region have cooperated on joint missions to make the gulf safer 鈥� but with mixed results.

One crucial agreement, the , was signed in 2013, establishing faster information-sharing and response between member countries. Foreign navies protecting their countries鈥� interests also patrol the international waters outside each country鈥檚 territorial zone. And in 2019 Nigeria, the region鈥檚 biggest power, was the first to introduce legislation specifically criminalizing piracy. (Previously, pirates were tried under armed robbery laws.)

But deeper social and economic dynamics hinder progress, experts say. The Niger Delta, for instance, is chronically lawless, and militants-turned-pirates are striking farther out at sea. Nigeria鈥檚 security forces are stretched thin, battling an insurgency in the country鈥檚 north, and ethnic conflicts in the Middle Belt.

Nigeria 鈥渨ill continue to struggle with maritime policing because it鈥檚 fighting 鈥榳ars鈥� on all fronts,鈥� says Dr. Ali. Meanwhile, he adds, smaller countries can hardly tackle pirates alone.

鈥淔ighting piracy and armed robbery at sea is a particular problem in the Bight of Benin,鈥� around Togo, Benin, and Ghana, says Alex Vines, director of the Africa program at the think tank Chatham House, in London. 鈥淥ver the last year, the Nigerian effort is having an impact in territorial waters [but] pirate activity has been pushed out deeper into non-Nigerian jurisdictions.鈥�

Merchant ship owners associations are for more international patrols and better law enforcement. Stepped-up international patrols helped in the world鈥檚 previous piracy hot spot, the Gulf of Aden, where piracy rose after Somalia鈥檚 civil war in the 1990s crumbled government control. Thirty-three countries in 2009 formed the , which saw attacks decline to in 2020.

In Somalia, a聽聽gave聽the international task force special powers because of the war.聽鈥淚t didn鈥檛 matter whether pirates were in international waters or territorial sea; the resolutions provided the opportunity to fully deploy and counter,鈥� says Dr. Ali.

But that approach may not work in the Gulf of Guinea, according to Vanda Felbab-Brown of the Brookings Institution, because most of the attacks in the Gulf of Aden took place in international waters while those in the Gulf of Guinea have聽usually occurred聽in territorial waters not open to foreign navies 鈥� although聽now, she adds, 鈥渢here appears to be evolution.鈥�

Attacks in the gulf's international waters are ramping up. Data obtained from the IMB shows that more attacks took place in international waters (48) than in territorial waters (33) last year.

Still, IMB Director Michael Howlett says that new solutions will be needed聽for聽West Africa. 鈥淚t has to be acknowledged that in the long term, Gulf of Guinea piracy is a regional issue requiring a regional response,鈥� he says.聽聽

Already, Dr. Ali points out, the region is smarting from a European Union move that some say undermines local agency. In January, the EU the Coordinated Maritime Presences, seeking permanence in the gulf, and in March, Denmark to deploy a patrol vessel in international waters there. It鈥檚 unclear if African countries were consulted; Nigeria鈥檚 maritime agency did not respond to a request for comment.

But Nigeria鈥檚 Project (DBP), launched this year, is cautiously inspiring hope. The ambitious $195 million project aims to purchase assets like fast-intervention vessels, build interagency command centers for the country鈥檚 naval and port authorities, and train security forces.

Together with the Yaound茅 agreement, the project signals progress in the gulf, experts say. 鈥淲e will see what comes out of the DBP,鈥� says Dr. Ali, adding that the Yaound茅 program represents the ideal: regional cooperation.