U.S. Navy Office of Naval Intelligence Worldwide Threat to Shipping (WTS) Report 13 September - 12 October 2016

Special Warning for the Bab-el-Mandeb chokepoint:

NGA Special Warning 134: Red Sea, Bab-el-Mandeb Strait and Gulf of Aden Commercial vessels in the region of the Red Sea, Bab el Mandeb Strait and the Gulf of Aden should operate under a heightened state of alert as increasing tensions in the region escalate the potential for direct or collateral damage to vessels transiting the region. These threats may come from a variety of different sources such as missiles, projectiles or waterborne improvised explosive devices. Houthi rebels claimed responsibility for an 01 October attack on a UAE vessel. Vessels in the region should report hostile activities immediately and contact coalition naval forces . . .

U.S. Navy Office of Naval Intelligence Worldwide Threat to Shipping (WTS) Report 13 September - 12 October... by lawofsea on Scribd

Gulf of Guinea Piracy: Nigeria "Pirates kill policeman in Bayelsa"

Daily Post of Nigeria reports, "Pirates kill policeman in Bayelsa":

The Police Command in Bayelsa has confirmed that pirates killed a Mobile Policeman on waterways in Ikebiri, Southern Ijaw Local Government Area.
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He said the dead policeman was escorting a barge to Koluama with his colleague when the pirates attacked them.

“Two policemen who were on escort duty on a barge from Port Harcourt to Koluama community in Bayelsa were attacked over the weekend by suspected pirates.

“One was shot dead while the other was badly injured. The policemen involved are not from Bayelsa command.

Reuters reports, "Pirate attacks by heavily armed gangs surge off Nigerian coast":

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Unlike the dangerous waters off Somalia and the Horn of Africa on the east coast of Africa, through which ships now speed with armed guards on board, many vessels have to anchor to do business off West African countries, with little protection.

This makes them a soft target for criminals and jacks up insurance costs.

"Pirates, often heavily armed and violent, are targeting vessels and their crews along the (Nigerian) coast, rivers, anchorages, ports and surrounding waters. In many cases, they ransack the vessels and steal the cargo, usually gas oil," the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) reported on Thursday.

Countries on the Gulf of Guinea, including Nigeria, Ghana and Ivory Coast, are major sources of oil and cocoa and increasingly metals for world markets.

Nigeria is getting assistance as reported in "Nigeria, UK, US in Joint Exercise Against Piracy, Crude Oil Theft":

A joint multi-national sea exercise tagged "African Winds" aimed at showing readiness to flush out sea pirates, terrorists and crude oil thieves in the Nigerian waters was held at the Lagos Takwa Bay Beach Friday.
The exercise which was jointly carried out by Spain, UK, US, Netherlands and Nigeria, was in line with the objectives of the African Partnership Station (APS) to stamp out maritime illegalities.
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The Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lieutenant General Azubuike Ihejirika, while speaking to journalists at the event admitted that the Nigerian Armed Forces approached the war against insurgents on a wrong footing.

Though, he said some achievements had been recorded by the military in the war against insurgents, he added that the Nigerian Armed Forces is re-strategising with a view to tackling all security loopholes in the on-going war against terrorism, piracy, sea robbery and bunkering.
He said: "We went into the operation in the North East without joint deployment training. Nevertheless, I am impressed with level of cooperation so far.

"We have taken concrete measures to improve the level of effectiveness of the operation, such as ground-to-air communication to enable the Nigerian Army and Air force to communicate. This was not there before hand.

"Though, there has been limited success with the operation in the north east, but I hope there will be improvement soon."

Sooner, please.

U.S. - Partner in African Pirate Fight

U.S. Government website says America Builds New African Partnerships to Tackle Piracy:

The United States and other international partners are helping African governments confront piracy and improve maritime security on two coasts of Africa. While the waters off the coast of Somalia rank number 1 in the world for piracy and armed robbery at sea and the Gulf of Guinea on Africa’s west coast ranks closely behind in the number 2 spot, the two regions have different scenarios and different types of crime.

Jun Bando, the maritime security coordinator and U.S. Africa Command liaison for the State Department’s Bureau of African Affairs, made that point February 19 in an interview with America.gov.

Looking at the problems in the two regions, Bando said, “What we are seeing off the coast of Somalia [is] ... acts such as ship hijacking, which is often committed on the high seas or international waters. In the Gulf of Guinea, the balance leans toward criminal acts that happen within a country’s territorial waters.”

In the Gulf of Guinea, Bando said, “We are seeing hijackings, kidnappings, considerable levels of violence” in criminal acts that are “typically more violent than what we are seeing in the Horn of Africa.”

Small armed groups in the Gulf of Guinea tend to commit their crimes along the coastline, offshore and on offshore oil rigs as well.

“We have seen an increase in attacks” in the Gulf of Guinea, she said. “We are seeing a number of criminal activities that are happening not only in international waters but also within the territorial waters of countries, and involving everything from drug smuggling to trafficking in both arms and persons.”

Turning to the situation off the coast of Somalia, Bando said there “the international ‘actors’ have come to play a very visible role in combating piracy.” That, she said, “is a reflection of several factors, the most important being that Somalia has not had the capacity to deal with the situation on its own and has asked the United Nations Security Council for help.

“If we are talking about the Gulf of Guinea, it is a very different scenario where certainly international cooperation has a role to play” in prevention, she said, “but it would be hard to envision the same type of international reaction that we would see off the coast of Somalia” because there are governments in the Gulf of Guinea capable of acting, although they may require technical or other support.

Red arrow on map points to Gulf of Guinea area, green arrow to Gulf of Aden/Somalia area.