Christian Bueger’s Post

➡️ I had the pleasure of visiting the Indian Ocean Commission (IOC) secretariat today to receive an update on their regional maritime security work. ⚓ The IOC continues to be a key driving force in developing regional responses to maritime insecurities in the Western Indian Ocean. The range of activities it has developed and implemented is impressive. 1️⃣ The IOC is best known for steering the operations of two regional centers: one for information fusion (RMIFC in Madagascar) and one for operational coordination (RCOC in Seychelles), both operating on the basis of legally binding agreements. This framework is commonly known as the MASE architecture, but has recently been rebranded as RMSA - Regional Maritime Security Architecture. 2️⃣ As was explained to me, this rebranding mainly highlights that the framework goes beyond IOC member states, and while supported by the IOC, RMSA is designed to operate independently in service of all Western Indian Ocean states and stakeholders. This means that all regional states, including, for instance, Maldives, Oman, and Sri Lanka, are invited to sign the agreements and join the collaboration. 3️⃣ The RCOC is by now a well-tested operational coordination mechanism that has organized an impressive range of exercises and joint interception operations, leading to the arrest of illicit fishers, narcotics smugglers, and pirates. 4️⃣ The IOC also supports the work of the Contact Group on Illicit Maritime Activities (CGIMA), the successor to the Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia that was instrumental in containing piracy from 2008 to 2012. CGIMA has not shown much activity lately, but remains an important prospective mechanism for managing the overlap and interface conflicts between the various regional maritime security mechanisms. It is expected to meet next in October this year. 5️⃣ The IOC has significantly broadened the activities of RMSA by introducing new capacity building initiatives and working groups that deal with oil spill prevention, search and rescue, counter-narcotics, irregular migration flows, and subsea cable protection, with a planned initiative on wildlife crimes. A new regional maritime training hub in cooperation with France is also under development. 6️⃣ While much of the IOC's work continues to be funded by the European Union under the Safe Seas Africa initiative, it is encouraging to see that the donor base and network of partnerships is increasingly broadening. ⏭️ The success of RMSA is noteworthy, not only for its operational output, but also given it is the only framework that is truly regionally-led. All other mechanisms (DCoC, CMF, SHADE) are either facilitated or directly steered by international actors, including the IMO, the US, or the EU. In contrast to other mechanisms, which are informal, RMSA is built on solid legal foundations. #IndianOcean #marsec #maritimesecurity #bluecrime Timothy Walker Pascaline Alexandre