Table of Contents

consequences 39 . Escorts of shipping in the western Mediterranean
are a key part of NATO’s Operation Active Endeavor – an operation
conducted with the cooperation of North African members
of NATO’s Mediterranean Dialogue, as well as Russia. Port
security is another priority issue, with special attention to the
possible use of containers as a vehicle for “super” terrorism, or
for the shipment of nuclear and missile components. The construction
of new LNG terminals, including the planned facility
at Sines, will impose new security requirements 40 . The interdiction
of WMD-related shipping in the Mediterranean is also
key aspect of the U.S.-led Proliferation Security Initiative in
which Portugal participates.
In a more direct, practical sense, new security efforts in the
region are being driven by attempts to monitor and interdict
illegal movements of people and goods northward. Trafficking
in people and contraband is a leading security problem in the
western Mediterranean. The sheer scale of the drug trade from
Morocco into Europe – the hashish trade alone is reported to
be worth roughly 12 billion dollars per year – makes the question
of interdiction central to north-south relations in the region.
The southern Mediterranean coast, from Libya to Morocco, is
a center of smuggling of all kinds, including arms trafficking.
Indeed, the culture of smuggling is endemic in the western
Mediterranean, and impedes efforts to improve information sharing
for defense and maritime search and rescue. To the extent
that the region acquires new infrastructure for maritime transport,
including the planned Tangier-Med terminal, the problem
of transparency and maritime security may actually increase.
As a matter of human security, the phenomenon of
Mediterranean boat people is now acquiring an Atlantic
dimension. With increased surveillance of the Moroccan coast
(and Moroccan-Spanish cooperation on this problem), African
migrants and their traffickers are turning to an Atlantic route,
[43]
39 In the most
well-known case,
arrests of Al
Qaeda operatives
in 2002 revealed
plots to attack
cruise ships,
tankers and naval
vessels in the
western
Mediterranean
and elsewhere.
“Maritime
Terrorism: A
New Challenge
for NATO”, IAGS
Energy Security,
January 24, 2005.
www.iags.org/
n0124051.htm.
40 See Ferreira
Lopes, “Gás
Natural”.