WEST AFRICA LOSING BILLIONS...Through illegal activities (PAGE 5, MARCH 3, 2010)

Countries along the West coast of Africa are losing billions of dollars through illegal activities within their maritime domain.
The activities include, illegal fishing, human and drug trafficking as well as oil bunkering.
These unchecked activities featured prominently during a roundtable discussion by experts with members of the Ghanaian media currently visiting Germany.
During the briefing at the Headquarters of AFRICOM in Stuttgart, Germany, it was realised that about 80 per cent of cocaine which ended up in various parts of Europe passed through West Africa.
Such activity was attributed to the weak patrols of territorial waters by the navies of countries along the coast of West Africa.
The experts were of the view that the neglect of the territorial waters of West Africa could be attributed to the fact that many governments had not considered the huge wealth existing in that sector.
The experts said if illegal fishing activities went unchecked, the local fishermen of Ghana and other West African countries would in the future suffer, since the fish stock was being depleted at a faster rate.
The discussants said it was important to protect the interest of local fishermen and tackle other illegalities in the maritime domain.
They were of the view that navies across the sub-region did not necessarily need sophisticated equipment to check the abuses but should co-operate to ensure that the West Coast was made unattractive to the people who were using it for their selfish interests.
To help arrest the situation, the AFRICOM promised to partner nations which have demonstrated democracy and rule of law.
The Team Leader of African Partnership Station (APS), Commander Chris Castro, said the Ghana Navy and African Partnership relation was growing stronger and had shown signs of impacting the country in a positive manner.
The Chief of Public Affairs Information of AFRICOM, Mr Vince Crawley said, the focus of Africa Partnership Station, was to help navies across the west coast combat the illegalities under the AFRICOM.
Ghana was said to be doing very well by demonstrating the will power to control its domain through the Africa Partnership Station (APS) under US Africa Command (AFRICOM).