Mekinda Elingui Bertrand: “Our Main Challenge Is Maritime Law Enforcement”

Politique
LUKONG Pius NYUYLIME | 30-05-2017 12:11

 Lt Commander, Commanding Officer of CNS “ Le Ntem”  and Officer in charge of operations in the fleet.

What are the challenges of commanding a war ship of the Cameroon Navy?

As commanding officer of CNS "LE NTEM" for instance, my challenge is to always be ready to successfully accomplish the missions that my hierarchy will assign to me and my crew. These missions most of the time turns round: - the surveillance, the protection and the defence of facilities near the coastline which is essential to the life of the nation.  They equally cover areas such as maritime law enforcement, the support to other defence forces and naval diplomacy. These challenges entail fighting against illegal traffics, illegal fishing, piracy and any other threat on the Cameroon nation coming from the sea and the rivers.

What is the significance of this special patrol operation to Calabar, Pointe-Noire, Bata and Libreville?

It is not really a patrol as such but it is an occasion for us to celebrate national unity day with our friendly and border nations, Nigeria, Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon. Last year for instance, the Nigerian equally invited a Cameroonian Navy Ship to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Nigerian Navy to share their happiness with us. It is therefore our turn to do the same. That notwithstanding, you know there are very big Cameroonian communities in these countries. It is also an occasion to celebrate with them and to assure them that they have all the support and the assistance of the Cameroonian government.

The Gulf of Guinea is vast and long. How do you collaborate with the navy from other countries to ensure effective presence where there are incidences of insecurity?

We are really conscious of the need to be effectively present and play a permanent role in the waters of the Gulf of Guinea. And so concretise this; we work on good communication and sharing of information between the different countries of the area. This is being done via Maritime Operational Centres (MOC) and Costal Surveillance Operational Centres (COSCO) of the different member countries.
We have equally instituted our means of monitoring and intervention within the framework of joint patrols in different areas managed by several structures such as: the Multinationals Coordination Centres in each zone, the Regional Maritime Security Centres (one in ECCAS and the other in ECOWAS) and the International Coordination Centre (ICC).

You and your team have been operating this ship since 2015. What can you count as achievement so far?

Our achievements are several folds. We have not only eradicated piracy in Cameroon, but have equally been fighting so hard to scale down illegal fishing which remains one of our main threats. In 2015 when we started our patrols, there were a lot of fishing vessels operating without fishing license with some fishing in restricted areas. Nowadays I can assure you that all the fishing vessels that we visit have their license and have been avoiding fishing in restricted areas. We have also signed partnership agreements with fishing administration and the customs department to improve maritime law enforcement.