Niger Delta Seaborne Raiders Outpace Somali Pirates

Phil Carter, the Acting Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, recently spoke at the Africa Center for Strategic Studies in Washington, DC on U.S. Policy in Africa in the 21st Century. You can see the full transcript on the AFRICOM website.

What caught my eye were his comments on the importance of maritime security, an issue which he said "is gaining in importance." That's not surprising in light of all the publicity about Somali pirates and their activities.

However what was noteworthy was this comment: "Nigeria has now surpassed Somalia as the most dangerous maritime region in Africa, with only Indonesia registering more incidents in 2007."

If you had any doubt about this, today's news may force you to rethink. This report appears on the International Herald Tribune website:

Gunmen in motor boats attacked the presidential palace in oil-producing Equatorial Guinea's island capital on Tuesday before being repelled by the armed forces, the government said. The government said the attackers came from the Niger Delta, a Nigerian territory where seaborne raiding parties have grown increasingly bold in the past two years, launching raids against banks and other targets in neighboring countries.

Residents in Malabo, the island hub of the fast-growing offshore oil industry in Equatorial Guinea, sub-Saharan Africa's third biggest crude producer, said the sound of gunfire woke them and said government forces used a helicopter gunship to repel the pre-dawn attack.

"Our country was once again the victim of an attack by the rebels of the Delta on the city of Malabo," the government said in a statement. "A contingent of rebel terrorists from the Delta arrived in numerous boats and tried to invade the capital, with the aim of taking and destroying the presidential palace," it said.

At least one attacker was shot and killed, and another group drowned when their boat was sunk by the Navy, it added.

Equatorial Guinea, a former Spanish colony, has suffered decades of instability and in 2004 dozens of foreign mercenaries, mostly South Africans, were caught trying to overthrow the president.

Government aircraft, including at least one helicopter gunship, took to the air over the city during the engagement, said a Western resident who declined to be identified.

"The situation has returned to something like calm. There was obviously some attack or attempted attack made in the vicinity of the presidential compound," he said.

Although the government said the gunmen had tried to seize the presidential palace, the Spanish Foreign Ministry said the attack appeared to be criminal in nature, rather than an attempted coup d'état.

[Readers may wish to dig out an old copy of "The Dogs of War" by Frederick Forsyth.]