EU funded training programme - West Africa

The Gulf of Guinea, Nigeria, and Niger Delta suffer from major and regular maritime insecurity that range from piracy, armed robbery, and kidnapping to illegal oil bunkering, trafficking, and smuggling.

The Support to West Africa Integrated Maritime Security (SWAIMS) programme was a multi-country intervention, covering member states of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) under the European Union-West Africa regional Indicative Programme—Benin, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Côte d’Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo, as well as Mauritania with a specific focus on coastal countries.

The project supports the SWAIMS programme to improve maritime security and safety in the Gulf of Guinea. Among its successes, the project strengthened integrated maritime governance, facilitated joint operations in Gambia and Sierra Leone, and helped finalize Liberia’s Maritime Security Strategy. SWAIMS’ maritime security workshops trained more than 300 professionals.