Institutional gaps in the 2050 Africa’s Integrated Maritime Strategy

• Jurisdiction: South Africa
• Published date: 05 December 2017
• Author: Egede, E.
• Pages: 1-27
• Date: 05 December 2017

1

INSTITUTIONAL GAPS IN THE 2050

AFRICA’S INTEGRATED MARITIME

STRATEGY

EDWIN EGEDE†

Senior Lecturer in International Law and International Relations,

Cardiff University

This article identifies some gaps in the institutional framework

of the Africa’s Integrated Maritime (AIM) Strategy, with regard to

certain vital areas of concerns in the sea, such as maritime security

enforcement, an African international judicial mechanism dealing

with maritime matters, the outer limits of the continental shelf and

the deep seabed regime. It argues for a reconsideration of the AIM

Strategy with regard to these important law-of-the-sea issues and

for the provision of a clearer plan on putting together appropriate

institutions to engage with these key matters.

[Keywords] 2014 Africa’s Integrated Maritime Strategy, deep

seabed regime, international adjudication, international insti-

tutions, maritime security, outer limit of the continental shelf

‘In the 21st century, capable, reliable, and transparent institutions

are the key to success […] Africa doesn’t need strong men, it needs

strong institutions’.1

† LLB (Hons) BL LLM PhD (International Law). The article is an updated

version of a paper presented by the author at the 2014 Marine and

Maritime Conference organised by the South African Research Chair

in the Law of the Sea and Development in Africa, Nelson Mandela

Metropolitan University, Port Elizabeth, South Africa, in partnership

with the South African branch of the International Law Association

and the Maritime Law Association of South Africa. The author conveys

his thanks to Professor Patrick Vrancken, the incumbent of the Chair,

for his kind invitation to speak at the Conference. He also thanks the

anonymous reviewers for their helpful suggestions and comments.

Furthermore, he expresses special thanks to Prince Emmanuel for his

support and inspiration – indeed you are a friend who sticks closer

than a brother does.

1 White House ‘Remarks by the President [President Obama] to the

Ghanaian Parliament, Accra International Conference Center, Accra,

Ghana’ (11 July 2009) (available at http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_

press_office/Remarks-by-the-President-to-the-Ghanaian-Parliament/,

accessed on 8 September 2015).

2016 JOLGA 1

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2 JOURNAL OF OCEAN LAW & GOVERNANCE IN AFRICA

I INTRODUCTION

The African Union (AU) Assembly of Heads of State and

Government, with an emphasis on the geostrategic importance of

the seas and oceans in the socioeconomic development of Africa,

adopted the Africa’s Integrated Maritime (AIM) Strategy on the 31st

of January 2014 at its 22nd ordinary session.2 The AIM Strategy is

an African-driven long-term and reasonably comprehensive vision

crafted to better harness Africa’s so-called ‘blue economy’,3 with

the vision of using this to promote development in the continent.

As such, the Strategy is undoubtedly a huge achievement.

The AU Peace and Security Council had previously noted

that ‘the future of Africa, among other sectors, resides in her blue

economy, which is a new frontline of Africa’s renaissance’.4 It is

nonetheless worth mentioning that this is not the first time that

Africa has put forward a continent-wide strategy on maritime

matters. In 1974, the Declaration of the Organization of African

Unity on the Issues of the Law of the Sea was adopted by the OAU

Council of Ministers at its 21st ordinary session.5 In the preamble of

2 AU ‘Decision on the adoption and implementation of the 2050 Africa’s

Integrated Maritime Strategy (2050 AIM Strategy)’ (AU Doc. Assembly/

AU/16(XXII) Add.1 2014, available at http://pages.au.int/sites/default/

files/Decision%20on%20the%20Adoption%20of%20the%20

2050%20AIM%20Strategy_2.pdf, accessed on 8 September 2015). The

text of the Strategy can also be found below at 202.

3 The blue economy, which is ‘founded in line with the concept

and principles of, and mutually supportive with the Green

Economy, is a tool that offers specific mechanisms for Small Island

Developing States (SIDS) and coastal countries to address their

sustainable development challenges’ (UN ‘Blue Economy Summit

19-20 January 2014’, available at http://www.sids2014.org/index.

php?page=view&type=13&nr=59&menu=1515, accessed on 6 January

2016).

4 AU ‘Communiqué of the Peace and Security Council of the African

Union (AU), at its 387th meeting on the conclusions of the Summit of

Heads of State and Government of the Economic Community of Central

African States (ECCAS), the Economic Community of West African

States (ECOWAS) and the Commission of the Gulf of Guinea (CGG) on

maritime safety and security in the Gulf of Guinea, held in Yaoundé, on

24 and 25 June 2013’ (available at http://www.peaceau.org/en/article/

communique-of-the-peace-and-security-council-of-the-african-union-

au-at-its-387th-meeting-on-the-conclusions-of-the-summit-of-heads-

of-state-and-government-of-the-economic-community-of-central-

african-states-eccas-the-economic-community-of-west-african#,

accessed on 8 September 2015).

5 OAU Doc. A/CONF.62/33 1974 (UN UNCLOS III Official Records

(1974) III 63-65).

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