[Pointe Noire, 8 April 2022] The Secretary General of the Prefecture of Pointe-Noire, chaired the closing ceremony of the YARIS (Yaoundé Architecture Regional Information System) user training programme, in the presence of the Representative of the European Union Delegation, senior officials of the national administration and the pool of instructors of the European GoGIN project. He congratulated the forty or so participants from the administrations of the State Action at Sea who successfully completed this practical training in Pointe Noire. Download the press release.
A coordinated organisation for the State’s action at sea
The Republic of Congo has set up a coordinated organisation to manage the State’s action at sea, placed under the responsibility of the Interministerial Committee for State Action at Sea and Continental Waters; the operational coordination is ensured by the Navy’s Maritime and continental waters Operation Centre (MOC) headed by Commander Steve Ongobo. The MOC works with all the administrations (Navy, Merchant Navy, Customs, Police, Fisheries, Justice, etc.) to coordinate operations at sea or on continental waters and to monitor, prevent and combat accidents, piracy, illegal fishing, and other forms of trafficking.
These administrations are now all connected within a national YARIS network, allowing them to use a single secure tool to prepare and conduct maritime safety and security operations, ranging from routine to crisis situations.
National training on Yaris
Congo is the third country (after Côte d’Ivoire and Benin) to have benefited from a new training and roll-out cycle, aimed at creating a national YARIS network.
From 28 March to 8 Avril, some forty participants from the State Action at Sea administrations learned to know and use YARIS, guided by a mixed team of instructors from GoGIN and the CRESMAC. The modular training took the specific needs and functions of the different categories of staff present into account. During a crisis management exercise, the participants were able to manage and coordinate the interventions of the administrations involved thanks to the collective use of the platform. Operational managers and operators are now able to use the platform for their daily monitoring as well as during exercises and operations at sea.
Ultimately, (the Republic of) Congo’s national YARIS network will contribute to improving day-to-day maritime surveillance and operational or institutional information sharing; the network will also facilitate effective coordination of operations when necessary.
The organisation and coordination of State Action at Sea and continental waters in the Republic of Congo
The organisation and coordination of State Action at Sea and Continental waters was defined by decree n°2019-125 of May 3, 2019. This decree establishes the Interministerial Committee on State Action at Sea and on continental waters. Placed under the authority of the Prime Minister, the Committee ensures strategic coordination, while the operational coordination is handled by the Congolese Navy’s Maritime and/or Continental Waters Operation Centre (MOC), which relies on all the administrations involved at sea or on continental waters: National Navy, Merchant Navy, Port Authorities, Customs, Police, Fisheries, Environment, Hydrocarbons, etc.
The Republic of Congo also hosts the Regional Maritime Security Centre for Central Africa, CRESMAC, which is attached to ECCAS under the Yaoundé Architecture.