Somalia joins 15 maritime conventions

Somalia has moved to bring one of East Africa's most exposed maritime zones deeper into the global shipping rulebook by acceding to 15 international conventions and legal instruments, according to SONNA.

The Ministry of Ports and Marine Transport said the decision, announced in Mogadishu on 26 June, is designed to tighten the country's legal framework across ship safety, navigation, seafarer training, pollution response, liability and maritime security. The package includes instruments covering maritime search and rescue, STCW seafarer training rules, COLREG collision-prevention requirements, the FAL convention on maritime traffic facilitation, tonnage measurement, two SOLAS protocols, OPRC 1990, oil pollution liability and compensation, the 1997 MARPOL protocol, the SUA maritime security convention and its 2005 protocol, the Nairobi Wreck Removal Convention and an instrument linked to the International Mobile Satellite Organization.

The step matters because Somalia has more than 3,300 km of coastline and sits close to shipping lanes connecting the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea. The country had acceded to only three core international maritime conventions in the six decades since independence. Minister of Ports and Marine Transport Abdulkadir Mohamed Nur said Somalia's limited participation in international maritime treaties had left its waters vulnerable, its marine environment underprotected and its seafarers without the rights they deserved. "With this historic accession, we are changing that narrative," he said.

The ministry said the new framework should strengthen Somalia's ability to regulate vessels in its waters, work with international partners, respond to pollution incidents, protect seafarers and seek compensation in cases of oil pollution or other maritime incidents.

Photo: DmitTrix / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0).