Senior Researcher inaugurated conference on Maritime Security in Africa

Wednesday 2 May, Centre for Military Studies, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Danish Shipping held a joint conference on maritime security in Africa - beyond piracy. The conference was supported by Clipper Group.

Senior Researcher, Katja Lindskov Jacobsen inaugurated the first session, “Horn of Africa. Threat Assessment and current maritime security initiatives”. The session consisted of representatives from EU’s Naval Forces, regional experts, UNODC etc.

Amongst other things, the panelists agreed upon that maritime crime cannot be defeated in isolation: to prevent maritime criminals, both academia, the civil society, shipping and aid industry need to collaborate on an aligned development strategy.

Different types of maritime crime are interlinked
Later on, Senior Researcher, Katja Lindskov Jacobsen pointed out that different types of maritime crime, e.g. piracy, human trafficking, the fishing industry etc. are interlinked.

»It is believed that Pirate Kingpin Garfange has used his fishing vessels to transport Al Shabaab fighters between locations in Somalia. Furthermore, in one case, “after having dropped people on the Yemini coast”, a group of pirates succeeded in hijacking a vessel on its way back to Somalia«, she stated.

Lindskov Jacobsen’s participation in the workshop follows the publication of her and Military Analyst, Mark Winther’s newly published report “Store masker i små net - Danske bidrag til international maritim kriminalitetsbekæmpelse”, which covers the topic.

Read the report in Danish here.