UN chief, Nigerian president meet on fight against piracy in Gulf of Guinea

UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 24 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday met with Nigerian President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, and the two discussed how to further strengthen the efforts to fight against piracy in the Gulf of Guinea.

"The secretary-general and the president discussed recent developments in Nigeria and the implementation of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling on the border dispute with Cameroon," a UN spokesman said in a readout to the press here. "They also exchanged views on how best to enhance the fight against piracy in the Gulf of Guinea."

In October 2011, the UN Security Council held an open debate on the piracy in the Gulf of Guinea, a region rich in energy and mineral resources, turning the world's attention once again on the problem off the African coast.

Piracy is characterized by armed attacks on commercial cargo ships, taking hostages, undertaking organized crimes such as drug and human trafficking, thus posing a serious threat to the international peace and security.

The Gulf of Guinea is the northeast part of the tropical Atlantic Ocean between Cape Lopez in Gabon and north and west to Cape Palmas in Liberia, spanning a dozen of Central and West African countries with a growing source of oil, cocoa and metals to the world markets.

Pirate attacks on ships in the Gulf of Guinea are threatening one of the world's emerging trade hubs and are likely to intensify unless the regional efforts are beefed up to fight pirates who enjoy natural hideouts along a craggy coastline.

During the meeting, "they agreed on the pressing need for stabilization in Mali, and for a concerted international approach to problems in Guinea-Bissau, Darfur, and Sudan-South Sudan," the readout said.

"They discussed terrorism in the Sahel, and the importance of socio-economic factors in reducing it, including through increased investment in agriculture, education and employment," the readout said. Enditem

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