Africa now has a legal document to address piracy and insecurity that threaten its blue economy. The signing of the long-awaited Charter of Lomé on maritime security and safety and development in Africa has been effective this Saturday, 15 October 2016.
This text, whose authorship is attributed to the togolese president Faure Gnassingbe, was adopted unanimously at the end of the extraordinary Conference of the Heads of State and Government of Africa.
The incumbent Chairman of the AU, Idriss Deby Itno, congratulates the togolese Government and President Faure Gnassingbe for this initiative. For him, “the successful outcome of the long and laborious process that led to the adoption of the Charter of Lomé, is only a first step in the stages of its implementation.”
He seized the opportunity to urge the various heads of State to “make the application of the Charter the first objective if we want to fight immediately against all the threats on the African maritime space”.
Note that the Charter has been adopted with the possibility to be modified and consolidated in the future with additional protocols and annexes in order to include other aspects not mentioned.
From now on, with the adoption and implementation of these texts, transactions through the sea can take place in the best conditions of safety so as to make it a lever for the development of Africa.
Bernard Yao Adzorgenu
