THE United States is strategizing to advance its maritime interest in the West African region.
This is because the Gulf of Guinea which is in the region is at the brink of becoming a greater supplier of energy to the United States than the Persian Gulf and is therefore of far higher strategic importance than has historically been the case. 
To this, the United States needs to maximize the recently signed Bi-National Commission as a vehicle for security cooperation, including maritime security.
The U.S. also needs to work with West African regional organizations to develop a regional coast guard capacity, including the sharing of assets, establishment of joint operations centers, and assignment of key functions and centers of excellence.
These were part of the recommendations of  the report, written by John Raidt, Director, On The Horizon Project, and Kristen E. Smith, Assistant Director, Michael S. Ansari Africa Center.
The Horizon Project is a brain child of the Atlantic Council, a Washington D.C based that  promotes constructive U.S. leadership and engagement in international affairs based on the central role of the Atlantic community in me¬eting the international challenges of the 21st century.
It also recommended the establishment of an interagency coordinating body to conduct strategic planning, oversee implementation and track  progress in West African maritime security assistance and performance, as well as the establishment of a comprehensive proof of concept pilot project with a willing and able West African partner nation or nations to develop the capabilities and conditions necessary for securing the maritime domain as a model for the region.
This has become very urgent according to the report due to the incessant nefarious activities  of transnational terrorists, drug cartels, and other criminal enterprises in West Africa,  abetted by official corruption.
These groups, according to the report  need a badly governed, poorly resourced maritime security regime to sustain their enterprises. 
It explores the adverse consequences of the cartel for the U.S., West African countries and the broader International Community of the continued failure to counter, vigorously and proactively, adverse security, economic, and political conditions in the region.
According to the report,  disturbing trends explored in the report, include:
The use of West Africa as a transit point and operational center for the movement of narcotics from South America to Europe, enriching criminal and terrorist enterprises based in our hemisphere and hostile to the U.S and the ripening conditions for transnational Islamic extremist groups and South American-based international drug cartels to develop cooperative associations and relationships with global implications
They also include the theft of African oil wealth by corrupt officials with devastating results for democracy, effective government and entrenched poverty;  abuse of West African waters as a dumping ground for waste and center for fish poaching with their respective impact on environmental degradation and livelihoods, as well as the contribution of these dynamics to higher levels of political marginalization, national discord, violent resource  competition and therefore the risk of state failure.
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