IMO-Led Initiative Boosts Naval Cooperation in Western Indian Ocean
As the Houthis escalate aggression against merchant shipping in the Red Sea, regional navies have renewed their efforts to build operational coordination. Last week, the IMO-led Djibouti Code of Conduct/Jeddah amendment (DCoC/JA) launched a new working group with the aim to streamline naval cooperation in the region. DCoC/JA includes 21 member states in the Western Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden. While the region hosts several international naval task forces including EUNAVFOR Atalanta and the Combined Maritime Forces (CMF), participation of the regional navies has been limited.
Currently, the existing regional naval cooperation framework is under the Indian Ocean Commission (IOC), an intergovernmental body based in Mauritius and representing interests of five western Indian Ocean island countries. Under the IOC’s maritime security framework, there are two regional centers, which have helped coordinate regional responses to maritime threats in the Western Indian Ocean. The first one is the Regional Maritime Information Fusion Center (RMIFC) based in Madagascar. The other one is the Regional Coordination of Operations Center (RCOC) in Seychelles.
With the new working group, DCOC/JA hopes to scale the operations of these centers. “Remember that the countries served by the IOC regional centers are also members of the DCoC/JA. Therefore, the new working group will expand the mandate and allow for bigger operations extending to southern Red Sea,” said Kiruja Micheni, DCoC/JA Project Manager.
In addition, Kiruja noted that the international navies operating in the region are unable to prosecute suspects engaging in illegal maritime activities. For this reason, the enhanced regional approach seeks to have a legal finish for maritime crimes. Besides, the efforts of the international navies can only go so far without synergies with the regional partners in the Western Indian Ocean.
Following the successful launch of the working group, Kenya and South Africa offered to lead fundraising efforts at the IMO (International Maritime Organization). The working group is scheduled to start holding regional naval exercises in the next three years.
This regional initiative comes at a time when maritime threats in the Western Indian Ocean are rising. It is almost 700 days into the ongoing Red Sea crisis, and arms trafficking has been reported to be on the rise in waters in the Gulf of Aden. Early this year, security agencies confirmed strengthening of relations between Al-Shabaab militia group in Somalia and Houthis in Yemen. If left unchecked, this has potential to further destabilize merchant shipping in the region. So far, the U.S Africa Command (AFRICOM) has conducted dozens of airstrikes in Somalia, mainly targeting the hideouts of ISIS-Somalia fighters in the Puntland region.