Mozambican soldiers on patrol in Palma,
Cabo Delgado, following the terrorist attack in March.
EFE-EPA/Joas Relvas
The maritime situation in Mozambique must not be allowed to emulate the maritime threats found off Nigeria, Somalia, and the rebel-held territories in Libya.
Nigerian naval members sit in a vessel during a multinational maritime exercise.
Pius Utomi Ekpei/AFP via Getty Images
For the Deep Blue Project to work the government must address the factors that enable piracy and insecurity in the Gulf of Guinea.
Illegal fishing increases food and economic insecurities in Nigeria.
Pius Utomi Ekpei/AFP via Getty Images
Nigeria must address illegal fishing, which depletes the country’s fish stocks, undermines livelihoods and pushes people into poverty.
Women make smoked fishes - locally called Okporoko - at Egede informal settlement in Port Harcourt, Nigeria.
YASUYOSHI CHIBA/AFP via Getty Images
The contributions that women in West Africa’s fisheries make to the sector are widely un(der)paid, undervalued and largely invisible.
The Suez Canal on a normal day.
Photo by Camille Delbos/Art In All of Us/Corbis via Getty Images
Direct implications for maritime security are unlikely. But there will be ripple effects in the shipping industry and in many commercial sectors.
Nigerian Navy Special forces pretend to arrest pirates during a joint military exercise with the French navy.
Photo by Pius Utomi Ekpei/AFP via Getty Images
Sea piracy often grabs the headlines, but it is just one of many symptoms of insecurity at sea.
On the outskirts of Accra there are huge electronic waste disposal sites, known locally as Sodoma and Gomorra.
Photo by Maniglia Romano/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images
Despite knowing how harmful it can be, companies and businesses (primarily those in Europe and the US) target countries in the Gulf of Guinea as a dump for their toxic waste.
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Many African countries are sitting on vast and under-utilised oceanic territories that have the potential to unlock enormous economic value, if properly governed.