Kenya, Seychelles in deal to fight piracy

Kenya and Seychelles have signed two bilateral agreements that will see the two countries collaborate on keeping the Indian Ocean safer, for business and environment.

A joint communiqué issued on Wednesday indicates that the two countries intend to cooperate more to combat sea piracy, regional peace and security as well as environmental protection of the waters of the Indian Ocean.

The six-point dispatch, signed by Kenya’s Foreign Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed and Seychellois Minister for Foreign Affairs Jean-Paul Adam, addresses these issues which the ministers think could greatly improve trade, if addressed.

“The two ministers (of foreign affairs) noted that the ocean represents a huge opportunity for the two countries. They underscored the desire of both countries to develop joint ventures and explore avenues and explore to make better use of resources under the blue economy,” it read.

Blue economy implies investing in ocean fishing, a resource useful to boost economies of a country but which is prone to environmental pollution, illegal fishing and sea piracy. The communiqué further added that Kenya and Seychelles acknowledged the “threat posed by piracy on economic development.”

“These agreements will mean we look at our ocean as a resource and which has to be protected. It also means that we boost our capacity so that these standards are implemented,” Ms Mohammed told reporters in Nairobi.

The Seychellois minister has been touring Nairobi since Tuesday, a visit that has resulted in a Political Consultation Agreement and a Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement between Kenya and his country.

Piracy, security and environmental protection of the seas are components of the first while the second deal is meant to encourage trade by removing incidences of both traders getting taxed twice.

“Oceans tend to be spaces which people tend to treat as the ‘other’, as being external and not part of states. But Kenya and Seychelles have said very clearly that we need to own these spaces and we need to make these spaces our spaces for development,” Mr Adam added.

“In terms of pollution in the sea, it is very important that we boost our capacity for verifications, that means increased cooperation for our coast guards and setting of standards for our ports, for example, so that we have a greater understanding of which vessels are misbehaving, for example.”

Intelligence sharing

The first agreement means Kenya and Seychelles will cooperate on intelligence, sharing standardise maritime operations and increase coastal monitoring.

A Kenyan delegation is expected to tour Victoria later in the year to learn on the working of a new intelligence sharing centre set up by the Seychellois government recently.

Kenya has about 640 km of coastline which the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) estimates to be the richest in tuna in the Indian Ocean.

Fishing in these waters could produce at least 150, 000 metric tons a year, but Kenyan fishermen only catch an average of 7000 tons, according to the Fisheries department.

In January the government admitted that Kenya is losing about Sh10 billion annually due to illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing in its territorial waters.

But illegal fishing is compounded by incidents of sea piracy and dumping of waste in the water. The UN documents an average of 10 attacks on ships plying the region and the absence of a strong government in Somalia means foreign ships can dump waste in these waters and leave without trace.

Kenya and Seychelles are some of the countries in the region to have accepted to try pirates on their soil. This though is a regional, rather than bilateral problem and the two sides will have to bring in more countries from the region.

“I know Kenya is boosting its capacity, and so are we. It is very important that we have the ownership of our ocean and I think this is the key themes of our visit. States of the region must claim more ownership of the ocean and the only way to do that is to boost capacity,” Mr Adan added.