To patrol is to control: Ensuring situational awareness in Africa's maritime exclusive economic zones

摘要

Africa's EEZ should be safe for navigation, commerce, and sustainable exploitation of its natural resources. However, the challenge of securing Africa's waters is enormous and requires great effort. Situation awareness in the maritime domain is a continuum that begins far beyond the borders of individual African nations and requires a critical blend of tangible resources such as equipment and personnel, along with intangible items such as useful intelligence and strong partnerships. Situation awareness provides the basis to make near-real-time strategic and tactical decisions on response to maritime threats in Africa's EEZ. Effective control will include the use of, among others, sensors, rapid response capable maritime or land-based platforms, and effective command and control systems. Integration of situational awareness platforms in order to control Africa's EEZ effectively and unifying the security initiatives of African sub-regions are critical to success.