Incidences of Piracy in the Gulf of Guinea and Horn of Africa have been decreasing but waters off West Africa remain dangerous and criminal gangs in East Africa are still a lingering threat, according to a new report. These were some of the conclusions from a recent Oceans Beyond Piracy (OBP) meeting that convened 35 maritime experts to discuss the current state of maritime piracy off the east and west coasts of Africa in the runup to the upcoming African Union Maritime Summit in Lomé, Togo, later this month.

The OBP working group meeting noted that the upturn in kidnapping for ransom incidents in the Gulf of Guinea in the last quarter of 2015 and the first quarter of 2016 appears to have been reduced through a combination of increased patrols by the Nigerian Navy, increased use of contracted security and a refocus of attacks away from piracy at sea and more towards inland infrastructure.

“While the waters in the Gulf of Guinea remain dangerous, regional nations are increasingly able to respond to piracy attacks through operational coordination across the zones developed through the Yaoundé process. Recent examples of these successes include the Nigerian Navy’s armed response to pirate attacks on the MT Maximus in February and the Vectus Osprey in August of this year. International actors are supporting the regional states by coordinating Maritime Situational Awareness for merchant vessels through the Maritime Domain Awareness for Trade – Gulf of Guinea (MDAT – GoG) framework,” Oceans Beyond Piracy said.

Regarding the rule of law, Oceans Beyond Piracy said there is considerable frustration that regional justice systems are still not able or willing to hold pirates accountable. “As evidenced off the Horn of Africa, the commitment to arrest, prosecute and incarcerate pirates was essential in building trust between the shipping industry and regional states as well as sending a signal of regional resolve to address the issue based on the rule of law.”

For the Horn of Africa region, Oceans Beyond Piracy said it has recorded a decline in international counter-piracy spending from $7 Billion in 2010 down to $1.3 Billion in 2015, noting that an effective deterrence has been maintained due to more cost-effective counter-piracy measures and the overall decline in pirate activity. “However, participants agreed that piracy gangs are still organized and retain the capability and intent to attack international shipping. These criminal networks are currently focused on other criminal activity, but are watching to see if conditions at sea become favourable again for piracy attacks.”

In spite of emerging maritime crises elsewhere, Oceans Beyond Piracy said international forces remain committed to support countries in the Horn of Africa/Western Indian Ocean region to deal with piracy. “It is hoped that support for operational issues can be increasingly provided by regional partners and so-called ‘independent deployers.’ It was also stressed that capacity building plans for regional forces are still many years from effectively suppressing piracy on their own.”

The international fight against piracy has seen the apprehension, prosecution, conviction and incarceration of more than 1 000 pirates. Nevertheless, Oceans Beyond Piracy has urged shipping organisations not to become complacent and to sustain deterrence.

“As commercial shipping patterns return to pre-crisis norms, there is concern that a growing number of vulnerable vessels are not following recommended procedures such as transiting through the Internationally Recognized Transit Corridor in the Gulf of Aden. There are also clear indications that the use of armed guards is decreasing in all areas of the High Risk Area (HRA). These developments may risk creating opportunities for pirates to reassert piracy business models,” OBP said. “Shipping organizations still implore their members to remain vigilant and follow BMP4 recommendations while the HRA remains in effect.”

Culled from Defenceweb

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and non-OPEC producers will be holding an extraordinary meeting to discuss the latest market situation in Algeria. The key focus of the meeting will be a proposal by Saudi Arabia for producers to keep their oil output at January levels – what Riyadh believes will help stabilize the prices in markets.

Iran has so far rejected the call to freeze its output as unfair and emphasized that it will go ahead with its plans to increase its oil production. Nevertheless, it had made it clear that it is ready to join the plan after its output reaches 4 barrels per day.

The country had been under multiple years of sanctions that limited its oil exports to 1 million barrels per day and also barred foreign investments in its oil industry. The sanctions were lifted in January after a nuclear deal that Iran had reached with the so-called P5+1 group of countries – the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany – came into effect.

Reuters reported on Friday that Saudi Arabia has informed Tehran that it is ready to reduce its oil output provided that Iran agrees to cap its own output at its current level of 3.6 million mb/d over the remaining months to the end of 2016.

Presstv

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has expressed interest in investing in Cameroon’s agricultural sector. The desire was made public in Yaounde by a high powered delegation from Riyadh. The Saudi delegation of parliamentarians headed by a former Minister of Agriculture held productive discussions with the Minister of Finance, Alamine Ousmane Mey.

Waleed A. Elkhereiji indicated that Cameroon has potentials in the domain of agriculture hence his country was ready to strike partnership deals. The Finance Minister and the Saudi MPs also examined the negative economic consequences following the sharp drop in fuel prices. Both parties had intensive exchanges on the execution of Cameroon’s budget.

The nine-man Saudi Arabian delegation left Cameroon on the 23^rd of September 2016. During their three-day visit, they met with some senior Cameroon government officials including the Prime Minister and Head of Government, Philemon Yang, the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the National Assembly.

CRTV

The US internet giant Yahoo says seemingly state-sponsored hackers stole the information of half a billion of its users back in 2014, in what appears to be the largest publicly disclosed cyber-breach in history. Yahoo said in a statement on Thursday that “based on the ongoing investigation, Yahoo believes that information associated with at least 500 million user accounts was stolen.”

The internet company added that the attack came from “what it believes is a state-sponsored actor.” The company said the stolen information probably included names, email addresses, birth dates, passwords and security questions and answers. The internet giant has assured that looted data did not include unprotected passwords or information associated with payments or bank accounts. Yahoo officials said they were working closely with law enforcement regarding the issue. Analysts say the stolen data may also be used to access people’s information on other websites.

This is probably the largest breach of information from a company. On several occasions, internet companies have complained that the US government tried to force them to give away their users’ information. Yahoo’s confirmation of the major cyber breach came after a report earlier this year quoting a security researcher saying some 200 million accounts may have been accessed and that hacked data was being offered for sale online.

The users of Yahoo’s online services were urged to review accounts for suspicious activity. They were also asked to change passwords. “Online intrusions and thefts by state-sponsored actors have become increasingly common across the technology industry,” Yahoo said in the statement, adding, “Yahoo and other companies have launched programs to detect and notify users when a company strongly suspects that a state-sponsored actor has targeted an account.”

The developments come two months after Yahoo sealed a deal to sell its core internet business to telecom giant Verizon for 4.8 billion dollars, ending a two-decade run as an independent company. It was not immediately clear if the data breach could impact the price agreed to by Verizon.

Presstv