By Rose Athumani,
TANZANIA is to host the third conference on
Maritime Security off the Eastern African Coast, which starts tomorrow
in Dar es Salaam and will address issues of good order at sea, alongside
focusing on piracy.
The three-day conference with the theme 'Beyond Piracy,' will address
a number of issues including good order at sea, lessons derived from
anti-piracy, the role of technology, cooperation on maritime security,
threats to the rising oil and gas industry and developing coastal
communities to counter the attraction of piracy.
The themes will be presented by the Faculty of Military Science of
Stellenbosch University (SU) in collaboration with the Faculty of
Strategy and Military Operations of the Royal Danish Defence College and
the University of Dar es Salaam.
The event, to be held at White Sands Hotel and Conference Resort,
will be the third conference in an ongoing series of conferences,
workshops and publications on strategic theory that stems from the
partnership between the Faculty of Military Science and the Danish
Faculty located at the RDDC in Copenhagen, both working in the field of
strategy and security.
In a press statement issued, Prof Francois Vreÿ of the SU Faculty of
Military Science and co-organiser of the conference, said the
anti-piracy debate in response to the threats of piracy and armed
robberies tended to dominate views on maritime security off eastern
Africa.
Prof Vreÿ explained that although piracy was a dangerous threat,
claims about its ongoing demise as a result of the pressures by naval
forces and progress on land - Somalia in particular - did not entail an
automatic return to good order at sea.
"While the 'piracy-antipiracy' debate answers a first order question,
'What is the threat?' the beyond piracy focus was an attempt to answer a
second order question, 'What constitutes bad order at sea off eastern
Africa and what to do about it?'" he explained.
According to the statement, the conference offered a platform for
discussion by speakers and delegates from across the globe, such as
Southern Africa, East Africa, Europe, the USA, UK and India on the wider
topic of good order at sea and to contemplate the 'beyond piracy' idea
for the region.
"Maritime security is rapidly becoming a recognised African security
domain but is somewhat overshadowed by the fixation on piracy as a
cover-all term for what is wrong at sea," added Vreÿ.
He said the conference offered the opportunity to also reflect on
other matters such as resource security, policing, developmental
perspectives and leadership.
He said this was important in building upon the declared successes of
the anti-piracy operations off Somalia in particular, but also to
inform the rapidly rising debate on maritime security, piracy in
particular, in the Gulf of Guinea off West Africa.
"The combination of African and non-African speakers holds the
promise of interesting insights on a matter deemed very important, but
largely neglected by African leaders for some period of time," he noted.
The keynote speaker will be Prof Geoffrey Till from Kings College,
London, one of the foremost international academics on sea power and
maritime security affairs.
The other speaker will be Mr Johan Potgieter from the Institute for
Security Studies (South Africa) who will update delegates on the African
Integrated Maritime Strategy (AIMS-2050) of the African Union.
The Danish partners are the primary sponsors of the conference and a
number of prominent Danish delegates and guests will attend the event.
The Commandant of the Royal Danish Defence College and Prof Thomas
Mandrup would be two key guests for their vital role in securing consent
and funding for the event.
Other guests include the Tanzanian Minister for Defence, senior naval
delegate of the Tanzanian Navy and members of the management of the
University of Dar es Salaam.
