New system of intelligence sharing planned, Kuwaiti commander says
Maritime security in the Gulf region has become a concern today more than ever before which is why the GCC countries are combining efforts to protect their territorial waters and sea lines of communication.
“Now the threat is coming from the maritime sector,” said Lieutenant Commander Mubarak A. Al Sabah, Chief of Maritime Operations at the Kuwait Coast Guard, to Gulf News in an interview yesterday.
“We are trying our best to secure the Arabian Gulf from terrorist activity, drug trafficking and piracy.”
Recently, Iran announced that it would block the Strait of Hormuz, which connects the Arabian Gulf with the Arabian Sea if sanctions are imposed on its oil exports. The European Union announced in January that it would ban oil imports from Iran starting from July 1 to put pressure on Iran over its nuclear programme.
There is a plan in the works to establish a central computer-based program for a comprehensive overlapping surveillance system to share information among the maritime operating centres of the GCC, Al Sabah said.
Lifeline
The Strait of Hormuz and the sea lines of communication in the Arabian Gulf are the lifeline for many of the economies in the region. “Seventeen million barrels of oil leave the Arabian Gulf every day and that’s only from the GCC countries. That doesn’t include Iran or Iraq,” Al Sabah said. “Most of the imports and the exports to and from the Gulf region are through … the Strait of Hormuz.”
Christian Le-Miere, Research Fellow for Naval Forces and Maritime Security, said that the closure of the Strait of Hormuz is “an improbable event” given the damage it would do to Iran’s own economy.
Nicholas Davis, chief executive officer of Maritime Guard Group, said that the only solution to facing maritime security issues is by improving the intelligence picture.
The Piracy Problem
Piracy has been one threat which has been given a lot of media attention with the rise of Somalian pirates.
Nicholas Davis, Chief Executive Officer of Maritime Guard Group said that the piracy problem is not that difficult to solve. “This is a financial problem. This is not a terrorism or an ideology involved. This is very much a case of easy cash,” he said.
“They don’t like people coming in stealing their fish and dumping waste. They have no ability to police it,” he said. Somalia has a 200 nautical miles sea limit, or exclusive economic zone.
He said the UAE has the potential to take the lead by engaging in a conversation with the Somalis to solve the problem..
Source: Gulf News
