West Africa states may adopt anti-piracy code this month

West African heads of state will meet, maybe as soon as this month, to adopt a code to fight growing piracy in their coastal waters that would include use of arrests, prosecutions and seizures of ships, the U.N. shipping agency said, according to Reuters.

Piracy is on the increase in the Gulf of Guinea region, which includes Nigeria and is a significant source of commodities including cocoa for world markets.

In that region, commercial ships do not enjoy the protection of naval security that has dramatically reduced Somali piracy on the other side of Africa.

“Quite soon, probably before the end of this month, heads of states of West African nations will be meeting in Cameroon … to try to adopt a new code of conduct for anti-piracy activities”, Koji Sekimizu, secretary-general of the United Nations International Maritime Organisation (IMO), said on Tuesday.