Nigeria, Benin Republic, Togo and Niger Republic have inaugurated ‘Operation Safe Domain II’ as a collaborative effort toward eradicating piracy and maritime crimes within their maritime domain, especially the Gulf of Guinea.
Speaking at the inauguration on Monday, the director of Multinational Maritime Coordination Centre (MMCC) Zone E, Commodore Aniedi Ibok, said the operation was in furtherance of the implementation of the MOU on Joint Maritime Operations and Patrols (JMOP) agreed upon by the countries.
The event holding at MMCC Zone E Complex started Monday and would end on Friday at Cotonou Port Naval Base, Benin.
The Yaonde Code of Conduct in 2013 divided the Gulf of Guinea into two sub-regions coordinated in the West by the Regional Centre for Maritime Security in West Africa (CRESMAO) and to the East by the Regional Centre for Maritime Security in Central Africa (CRESMAC).
Thereafter, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Integrated Maritime Strategy (EIMS)…