Obangame Express 2025 – Shared Commitment to Maritime Security and Countering Illegal, Unreported, & Unregulated Fishing ​

By Ambassador Robert Scott

In my current position at U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM), I am part of a team deeply committed to supporting our African partners as they address pressing challenges that impact their security, stability and prosperity.  

Obangame Express 2025 (OE25), hosted by Cabo Verde, sponsored by AFRICOM and executed by the U.S. Navy’s 6th Fleet, brings together thirty countries with a common goal of improved maritime security and enhanced maritime domain awareness capabilities (MDA).  The exercise, which commenced on May 5, highlights African leadership, leveraging the Yaounde Code of Conduct to enhance communication and shared MDA within the Gulf of Guinea.  It showcases the strength of partner contributions from thirty African, European, North and South American nations offering a total of 112 vessels, 11 aircraft and over 900 participants for this year’s exercise.   

Participants came together to demonstrate maritime capability and interoperability, and to sharpen the ability to respond to challenges in their territorial waters and across zonal boundaries. Responding to strong demand signals from African partners, a special focus was given to coordination between national and regional Maritime Operations Centers (MOCs), drawing on MDA tools like SeaVision to detect and respond to suspected illicit activities. Exercise scenarios were developed to simulate real-world threats such as piracy, drug trafficking, immigration and fisheries enforcement.   

We are seeing a steady increase in the focus given especially to the global threat of illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing (IUUF), a threat that exists also in Africa’s coastal waters and maritime domain.  I served in West Africa in the mid-1990s and visited many coastal communities during my tour, witnessing the importance of a healthy, sustainable fish stock to citizens’ livelihoods and food security throughout the region.  

Africa’s vast coastline and rich marine resources hold immense potential for economic growth and underpin food security with up to 70 percent of protein deriving from the sea for some countries. However, the menace of IUUF poses a significant threat to the conservation and management of shared fish stocks, undermining the sustainability of fisheries and posing significant risks to marine ecosystems.  

In response to these threats and strong interest from African partners, OE25 has incorporated counter IUU-F activities directly into the exercise, beginning with the role of MOCs in enhancing surveillance, coordination, and information sharing among regional maritime forces. MOCs are at the heart of improved capabilities to track and respond to illicit activities, ensuring a more secure and monitored maritime environment. I recently had the opportunity to visit the CRESMAC regional MOC in Pointe Noire, Republic of Congo, which is one of two regional MOCs established under the Yaoundé Code of Conduct, a non-legally binding agreement adopted in 2013 by 25 West and Central African countries aimed at enhancing regional cooperation to combat piracy, armed robbery, and other illicit maritime activities in the Gulf of Guinea. The United States is proud to have provided equipment to help the establishment of this center and sees it as having an important role in facilitating a regional approach to maritime security.

Maritime security incorporates a wide array of functions and actions, and counter IUUF efforts begin with strong MDA, allowing officials to analyze patterns and actors illuminated with technical means, conduct enforcement actions, and culminate in the “legal finish” through which countries apply their laws. OE25 incorporates aspects of all of these activities, notably including a “Rule of Law” symposium in which 75 participants from 30 countries exchanges information and views on criminal prosecution, evidence collection and processing, and legal strategies. The symposium featured presentations from lawyers, Naval Criminal Investigative Service, and U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) IUUF experts. OE25 also featured a Tabletop Exercise (TTX) which ran participants through scenarios and analyzed enforcement gaps and regional IUUF strategies.   

AFRICOM has also teamed with the African Center for Strategic Studies on a series of workshops that have been held in Madagascar and Angola and have brought together respectively members of the Djibouti Code of Conduct and Yaounde Code of Conduct. These two regional initiatives allow for countries to work together to address their shared maritime security challenges in the Gulf of Guinea, East Africa, and Western Indian Ocean.  The workshops have consistently highlighted the need for regional approaches in countering IUUF, as a primary threat to the prosperity of all attendees. 

Finally, I would like to highlight the positive impact of U.S. Coast Guard  Maritime Law Enforcement (MLE) Ship Rider Agreements on our shared maritime security agenda. To enhance maritime security cooperation, the USCG maintains bilateral MLE ship rider agreements with several African nations, allowing USCG and partner nation officials to embark on each other’s vessels and aircraft for maritime law enforcement, including combating illegal fishing. The USCG currently has agreements with Cabo Verde, Sierra Leone, The Gambia, Senegal, Seychelles, and Côte d’Ivoire (which was the most recent agreement, signed February 6, 2024). These agreements improve bilateral cooperation, coordination, and interoperability; bolster partner nation maritime law enforcement capacity; close global enforcement gaps to address IUUF; and reflect a shared commitment to good governance, transparency, rule of law, and a safer maritime environment. 

AFRICOM will continue to engage broadly on maritime security with African partners, through its three naval exercises—Obangame Express (West Africa), Phoenix Express (North Africa), and Cutlass Express (East Africa)—as well as bilateral programs. We are proud of this engagement and will continue to respond to the requests of our partners to feature the broadest array of counter IUUF activities within our partnership activities.   

The views expressed in this piece are the sole opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Center for Maritime Strategy or other institutions listed.