On Friday 25 November 2022, the Joint Maritime Control Unit of Ivory Coast, created under the SEACOP V project, concluded a 5-day ship search training course in Abidjan.
Delivered by experts from the French and Senegalese Customs, the training targeted 15 staff from the Customs, Navy, the national Police, the maritime Police, the forestry Police and the authority of the Autonomous Port of Abidjan.
In addition to the theoretical aspect on the organisation of the search, practical exercises of ship searches were carried out on board of various ships at the Port Autonome d’Abidjan.
This training, first of its kind, will enable the establishment of the first joint ship search unit in Ivory Coast, which will help support a more effective fight against illicit maritime trafficking of all kinds.
During the closing ceremony which took place at the National Customs School, the Director of the Customs School representing the Director General of Ivorian Customs and the Secretary General of the Inter-ministerial Committee for the Fight against Drugs, National Focal Point of the SEACOP Project in Côte d’Ivoire, thanked Expertise France and the European Union for their support and reaffirmed the willingness and commitment of the Ivorian authorities to strengthen measures to combat illicit maritime flows by making this unit operational as soon as possible.
Other partner organisations, notably ISMI (Interregional Maritime Security Institute) and CRESMAO (Regional Maritime Security Centre for West Africa) were represented at this closing ceremony.
