Strengthening Maritime Security and Navigating Sahelian Integration Challenges

On 23 April, the Peace and Security Council (PSC) will convene its fourth session under the theme “The Imperative of a Combined Maritime Task Force in Addressing Piracy in the Gulf of Guinea.” Over the last decade, Gulf of Guinea states have deepened regional cooperation and harnessed digital technologies to bolster Maritime Domain Awareness, driving piracy incidents down from 84 in 2020 to just 18 in 2024. Yet much of this capability rests on platforms developed, financed, and controlled by external partners, leaving coastal states exposed to shifting geopolitical winds. With physical infrastructure for validating maritime intelligence still underdeveloped, the PSC will examine the proposal—first endorsed in the May 2022 Port Harcourt Declaration and reinforced at its 1174th session—to stand up an Africanled Combined Maritime Task Force (CMTF). Nigeria has offered Lagos as the CMTF headquarters, and the PSC will explore how to synchronize its operations with the Gulf of Guinea Commission and fasttrack the activation of the Committee of Heads of African Navies and Coast Guards (CHANS).

The Council’s final session on 25 April will reflect on “The Political Landscape in the Sahel Region,” focusing on the fallout from Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger’s withdrawal from ECOWAS. After sanctions following Niger’s July 2023 coup and a sixmonth ECOWAS reprieve, these three Sahelian republics formalized their exit on 29 January 2025, forming the Alliance of Sahel States. This defection—hailed at the AU’s 37th Ordinary Session in February 2024 as a grave setback—poses the most serious challenge to West African integration since ECOWAS was founded in 1975. The PSC will assess how this fragmentation undermines the African Peace and Security Architecture and consider measures to shore up regional cohesion.

Additionally, on 1 April the PSC held its annual Flag Day ceremony, installing flags for the newly elected Council members in the PSC Chamber and receiving a briefing from the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, in accordance with the PSC’s Programme of Work.