Yaoundé Code of Conduct, maritime security, Gulf of Guinea, piracy, sea robbery

This paper examines the Yaoundé Code of Conduct - the maritime Security framework of 2013 for countering piracy/sea robbery in West African states of the Gulf of Guinea. Premised against the pernicious and near perennial challenge of low maritime domain awareness and a poorly organized ocean governance infrastructure which has undermined the thriving of the blue economy and the Safety of Life at Sea in the region. The paper examines the Yaoundé Architecture through the lenses of piracy/sea robbery as it effects the blue economy. Triangulation was used both as a methodology as well as method of data collection from a critical mass of global and regional maritime stakeholders-agencies/actors in the region as well as secondary sources, to interrogate the seemingly perennial and ever-dynamic phenomenon of Piracy and Sea Robbery in the Gulf of Guinea. The paper concludes with some recommendations aimed at improving upon and consolidating on the gains of the Yaoundé Architecture through the Yaoundé Code of Conduct in countering piracy/sea robbery along with other transnational maritime crime in the Gulf of Guinea.

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