Columbia International Affairs Online: Policy Briefs

CIAO DATE: 05/2010

Navies versus Coast Guards: Defining the Roles of African Maritime Security Forces

Augustus Vogel

December 2009

Africa Center for Strategic Studies

Abstract

Piracy, illegal fishing, and narcotics and human trafficking are growing rapidly in Africa and represent an increasingly central component of the threat matrix facing the continent. However, African states' maritime security structures are often misaligned with the challenges posed and need coast guard capabilities and an array of intra-governmental partnerships.