In the afternoon of Tuesday 16 December EU NAVFOR Netherlands warship headed north from the Gulf of Aden to return home after an extremely busy and successful four months on anti piracy patrols. Cdre Giovanni GUMIERO, Italian Navy, took over Command of Task Force 465 from Cdre Pieter BINDT, Netherlands Navy on 12 December.
Evertsen was delayed in leaving the area whilst the issue with the 13 suspected priates, held since 2 December, was resolved.
Evertsen has taken part in the EUNAVFOR mission Operation ATALANTA. The main tasks of Operation ATALANTA are to escort merchant vessels carrying food of the ‘World Food Program’ (WFP), the protection of vulnerable ships in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean, and to deter and disrupt piracy.
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comment by J. van Benthem
posted 7 months, 2 weeks ago
And the crew on the Evertsen leaves the mission utterly frustrated, because the EU Atalanta-command ordered the ship to release 13 pirates it had caaght red-handed and with a hijacked Tanzanian fishingboat loaded with guns and RPG’s. The EU didn’t succeed in finding any country willing to bring these pirates to court.
The Eversten ahd the pirates on board for two weeks – image what the crew now thinks about participating in the Atalanta operation.
comment by Cdr K Harbour
posted 7 months, 2 weeks ago
Frustrating it must be for the crew but they are proffessional Service men doing an excellent job (sometimes under difficult circumstances) Don’t forget EU NAVFOR is doing a policing type role. The Police catch suspected criminals, present the evidence to a prosecuting authority and then get on with the job. It is not EU NAVFORs job to question the Judiciary. Let’s congratulate Evertson (and EU NAVFOR) who are making a difference and keeping piracy reduced off Salia.
comment by Mario V
posted 7 months, 1 week ago
We can indeed congratulate EVTN and her crew on completion of their tour. EU Navfor’s units indeed make a huge contribution to policing these waters.
However, J.van Benthem’s post is based on fact and I share his view.
Cdr Harbour… one essential step is missing from your contribution: “The Police catch suspected criminals, present the evidence to a prosecuting authority, HAND OVER THE SUSPECTS TO PROSECUTING AUTHORITIES and then get on with the job.”
The EU needs to find a permanent solution for this issue, so that it is not repeated in the future.
The Judiciary needs to have procedures in place to try these people, whether it is in the EU, or in Africa is irrelevant.
Why were these suspects not taken on board ITS Etna whilst this issue was being taken care of?
It looks as if there was no contingency for such a possibility (and there still is no solution).
comment by Cdr J Harbour
posted 7 months, 1 week ago
Mario V you make a good point and I can assure you that a transfer to Etna was considered as was a transfer to other units. However, Etna as you probably know is Italian and a transfer would have brought the suspects under a different legal system. It’s not impossible but it does complicate matters and too complicated to go into on a blog. The arrest and prosecution system does work as shown by the 100+ prisoners in Euroean, Seychelles and Kenyan jails but you are right it could be more streamlined. How realistic this is will have to be seen remembering we’re dealing with 27 EU Member States, African states and other nations involved in anti piracy – their legal systems differ BUT we do make it work and huge efforts by the EU in particular have gone into bringing these criminals to justice.
comment by Lt Col A Barrada
posted 7 months, 1 week ago
I hope that an International Court against piracy could solve all these problems.
Congratulations EVERTSEN for your great job in Atalanta and Merry Christmas!