The European Union formally launched on Monday an anti-piracy security operation off the coast of Somalia -- its first ever naval mission
Joins India in its first ever naval offensive
BRUSSELS: The European Union formally launched on Monday an anti-piracy security operation off the coast of Somalia -- its first ever naval mission -- the EU’s French presidency said.
Dubbed Operation Atalanta, the mission was endorsed by the block’s defence ministers at talks in Brussels. EU ships will also help protect UN and other vulnerable vessels seeking to transport aid into strife-torn Somalia.
“I hope that it will be in place by December,” EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said, as the block’s defence and foreign ministers held talks in Brussels.
The so-called EUNAVOR operation will be made up of at least seven ships, including three frigate and a supply vessel. It will also be backed by surveillance aircraft.
The mission will be run from a headquarters at Northwood, London, with contributions from France, Germany, Greece, Netherlands and Spain, with Portugal, Sweden and Norway also likely to take part.
“Our participation in the Somalia project is an important one,” UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband said. “This is obviously a very challenging project but one that EU leaders are approaching with real humility as well as determination,” he said.
The EU initiative was taken after Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed urged Somalis and the international community to combat rising piracy off the lawless nation’s waters. Last month, a maritime watchdog said Somali pirates were now responsible for nearly a third of all reported attacks on ships, often using violence and taking hostages.
On Friday, heavily-armed Somali pirates seized a Danish-managed cargo ship with 13 crewNATO warships recently arrived in the region in a bid to secure the maritime delivery of food aid to the civilian population of Somalia, where a deadly civil conflict continues to rage. India and Russia have also sent ships to the area on anti-piracy
duties.
The pirates operate high-powered speedboats and are heavily armed, sometimes holding ships for weeks until they are released for large ransoms paid by governments or owners. Under the mission’s rules, captured pirates will not handed over to a state
where they could face the death penalty, torture or degrading treatment.
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