Your Excellencies, Heads of State and Government,
Your Excellencies, Heads of Delegation,
The Representative of the United Nations Secretary General,
The Representative of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission,
Special Envoys from governments of countries friendly to the Gulf of Guinea,
The President of the Cameroon Senate,
The President of the Cameroon National Assembly,
Mr Prime Minister,
The President of the Supreme Court of Cameroon,
Your Excellencies, Heads of Diplomatic Mission,
Representatives of International Organizations,
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I would like to start by wishing each
and every one of you, on my personal behalf and on behalf of the
Cameroonian people, a warm welcome and a pleasant stay on Cameroonian
soil, on the occasion of the summit on maritime security and safety in the Gulf of Guinea.
It is an honour and a great pleasure for me to welcome so many eminent personalities to Yaounde on this occasion.
Let me take this opportunity to express
my sincere gratitude to the Secretariat General of the United Nations,
the African Union Commission, the Secretariat General of the Economic
Community of Central African States (ECCAS), the Economic Community of
West African States (ECOWAS) Commission, and the Executive Secretariat
of the Gulf of Guinea Commission (GGC), for their invaluable support in
organizing this summit.
Your Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Maritime piracy poses a serious threat
to the peace and stability of our States. It undermines the people’s
development and wellbeing.
How can our countries progress if somehow our waters became too dangerous for the free movement of people and goods?
How would our towns be safe if pirates flood them with drugs and weapons?
How can we navigate the Gulf of Guinea waters in constant fear of being killed or taken hostage?
That is unacceptable, for the Gulf of
Guinea would then cease being a safe bosom on Africa’s shapely and curvy
body, to become a hellhole.
Our response must be firm if we must
avert a decline in the volume of goods that transit through our maritime
space, and if we do not want to jeopardize our development and global
balance.
Indeed, the ocean is not merely a vast expanse of water; it is also an energy source.
The ocean is not merely a maritime route for goods transit, but also a reservoir of mineral, plant and animal resources.
Seas and oceans are wonders for humanity.
From time immemorial, they have enabled people to travel, to trade and to generate wealth.
They have enabled people to share, learn about one another and fraternize.
For all these reasons, our maritime
space cannot be left in the hands of unscrupulous individuals of
organizations whose agenda is to transform it into a predators’ haven.
We will not allow these pirates to wreak
havoc in our waters or turn them into a lawless place where seafarers
would be in danger.
Failing to respond would be tantamount to accepting that at some point, there would be no more maritime travel.
Your Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
We must assume our responsibilities to
stop Africa as a whole and the Gulf of Guinea in particular from falling
prey to pirates, once and for all.
We must respond unfailingly and unflaggingly, to restore peace and quiet of yesteryear in our waters.
For my part, I am convinced that there
can be no development without peace and security. That is all the more
so for a region like ours where national economies still depend largely
on the people’s capacity to generate wealth; generating wealth also
means having full control over our maritime space.
Such is the spirit of the United Nations
Security Council Resolution 2039 of 29 February 2012, which urges our
States to convene this joint summit.
Cameroon is all the more elated as the United Nations shares this concern with it.
The Security Council has prepared the
roadmap for this summit, which is as follows: devise a regional
anti-piracy strategy in cooperation with the African Union and with the
support of regional offices of the United Nations Organization’s
Secretariat General in West and Central Africa.
Your Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am pleased to welcome you here, in
Yaounde, so that together we can brainstorm and find appropriate
solutions to this thorny issue.
I am also very pleased to announce that,
in the face of the recurrent and destabilizing nature of maritime
piracy, the Gulf of Guinea States have not folded their arms, but
rather, have taken several initiatives.
In ECCAS, a sub-regional maritime
security body has been set up. This is the “Central Africa Regional
Maritime Security Centre”. A maritime security funding mechanism has
also been established.
In ECOWAS, a maritime strategy is being prepared. There is also a programme aptly christened, “Operation Prosperity”, under which Nigerian and Beninese security forces conduct joint patrols on the coasts of Benin.
I seize this opportunity to pay tribute
to the action taken by my brother, President BONI YAYI, and hail the
remarkable work accomplished by the Cotonou Preparatory Ministerial
Conference, whose conclusions laid the groundwork for the draft regional
strategy tabled before us today.
I should also commend various
international partners for their capacity building support provided us
in the area of maritime security. I am referring in particular to the
United States, the People’s Republic of China, France, the European
Union and Interpol.
In the same vein, I would like to
express my satisfaction with Japan’s announcement, at TICAD V, that it
will support efforts to combat insecurity in Africa.
Your Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Gulf of Guinea countries are witnessing a
boom, with a strong economic growth, a well-educated élite, a young
population aware of the stakes. But our determination, our national and
regional capacities, as well as our efforts to eradicate piracy seem
inadequate to prevent or effectively stamp out the threat. Therefore,
collective effort is a must, for us to avoid a situation where, once
eliminated in one country or area of the Gulf of Guinea, this scourge
would rear its head in another.
While commending the achievements of
various maritime military operations conducted here and there, I must
underscore the need for a holistic approach to piracy. This would help
us come up with innovative solutions, commensurate with the context
and scale of this scourge for States of the region and for the
international community.
It is thus crucial that the response developed should be security, governance and development oriented.
Failure is not an option to us.
Your Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
In no distant future, the sea will be the new site for industrialization, when land would have been occupied.
The sea will possibly be the Eldorado where future generations will go and develop new intelligence for humanity.
Definitely, we face a huge challenge,
but we cannot and do not want to shy away from it. Together, we decided
to meet here to assert our firm determination to muster all our energy
against this scourge. In so doing, we would forge, among Gulf of Guinea
neighbours, an area of security and prosperity.
Your Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Lastly, I would like to say how
important it will be for the decisions and recommendations adopted
during this summit to be effectively implemented. Our sacrifices will
not go in vain. Our efforts will bring peace, stability and prosperity
to our countries and serve the interests of our peoples and those of our
partners worldwide.
It is with this conviction that I now declare open the summit on maritime security and safety in the Gulf of Guinea.
Thank you.
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