Rear Admiral Bartolome Bauza meets the President of Republic of The Seychelles His Excellency Mr James Michel

On 18 of March at 11.00, the Deputy commander EU NAVFOR Rear Admiral Bartolome Bauza ended a very successful visit to the Seychelles.

The final meeting was with the President of Republic of The Seychelles His Excellency Mr James Michel. During the meeting His Excellency expressed his gratitude for EU NAVFOR’s contribution to anti piracy efforts in the region and the close cooperation with the Seychelles in countering this criminality.

RAdm Bauza also had the opportunity to meet Mr Joel Morgan, the Minister for Environment, National resources and Transport. Mr Morgan is also president of the antipiracy committee and RAdm Bauza expressed EU NAVFOR’s thanks for the excellent cooperation on yesterdays handover of the 11 suspected pirates to the Seychelles for prosecution.

After the meeting with the His Excellency, The President, there was a short informal press conference which the French Ambassador in the Seychelles Mr Philippe Delacroix also attended. RAdm Bauza stated during the press conference that “it is a great honour for me to have met His Excellency the President today. It is important to have such cooperation in the region to counter this scourge of piracy and EU NAVFOR is very grateful for the support provided by the Seychelles to this operation.

EU NAVFOR Somalia – Operation ATALANTA’s main tasks are to escort merchant vessels carrying humanitarian aid of the ‘World Food Program’ (WFP) and vessels of AMISOM, and to protect vulnerable ships in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean and to deter and disrupt piracy. EU NAVFOR also monitors fishing activity off the coast of Somalia.

Picture Gallery:

Suspected pirates arrives at Seychelles

This morning, 17 March, saw the culmination of highly successful EU NAVFOR pirate disruption activities by the EU NAVFOR French warship NIVOSE against Pirate Action Groups (PAG) operating in the Somali basin, approximately 350 nautical miles off the Somali Coast.

The PAG activities on 4 March led to an immediate response by EU NAVFOR warships and Maritime Patrol Aircraft and the EU NAVFOR Flag ship ETNA despatched NIVOSE to seek out the PAGs operating in the area.  On 5 March, NIVOSE intercepted a PAG and boarded two skiffs and a mother ship. The mother ship (whaler) was destroyed and she took on board two skiffs and detained 11 suspected pirates in an area clearly linked to the unsuccessful attack on the Spanish FV Intertuna 2. With the evidence gathered and presented to the Seychelles authorities, it was approved for the 11 detainees to be flown from Djibouti to the Seychelles for prosecution.

At 14.45 local time the 11 detainees arrived at Seychelles International airport. The detainees were handed over to the Seychelles Authorities. Present at the airport was Deputy Commander EU NAVFOR RAdm Bauza. After the detainees left RAdm Bauza was interviewed by the press and stated: “Today is a good day but you mustn’t forget the people at sea and the Seychelles Coastguard which are doing a wonderful job”.

EU NAVFOR Somalia – Operation ATALANTA’s main tasks are to escort merchant vessels carrying humanitarian aid of the ‘World Food Program’ (WFP) and vessels of AMISOM, and to protect vulnerable ships in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean and to deter and disrupt piracy. EU NAVFOR also monitors fishing activity off the coast of Somalia.

Picture Gallery:

Deputy Commander with Officer Commanding Force Headquaters SA in Djibouti

Rear Admiral Bartolome Bauzá, Deputy Commander of EU NAVFOR Somalia -Operation ATALANTA, paid a recent visit to Djibouti to meet with key political  and military authorities in the country.

He also visited the Force HQ Support Area, the Spanish, German and French Maritime Patrol Aircraft (MPA) detachments, the Combined Joint Task Force, Horn Of Africa and the Japanese MPRA detachment in Camp Lemonier.

During the trip, the EU Ambassador, Mr Nicola Delcroix, organised a reception, which was co – hosted by RAdm Bauzá, in order to express his gratitude for the support received from Djiboutian authorities and French representatives. He took the opportunity to emphasize the transfer of authority from the French Embassy to the EU Delegation for Operation ATALANTA matters.

During his call on political authorities, RAdm Bauzá expressed EUNAVFOR’s gratitude for all the support received by Djibouti, and proposed increasing the relationship with ATALANATA and enhancing EU/Djiboutian.

During the visit to General Fathi Ahmed Houssein, the Chief of Joint Staff of National Armed Forces, thanked the Djiboutian Armed Forces for their constant support. He also proposed closer cooperation with the Djiboutian Navy to enable them to conduct surveillance, engaged in counter-piracy operation outside in the Djiboutian EEZ and in the GOA in close coordination with coalition forces.

EU NAVFOR Somalia – Operation ATALANTA’s main tasks are to escort merchant vessels carrying humanitarian aid of the ‘World Food Program’ (WFP) and vessels of AMISOM, and to protect vulnerable ships in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean and to deter and disrupt piracy. EU NAVFOR also monitors fishing activity off the coast of Somalia.

Rear Admiral Bartolomé Bauzá (2nd right) with the Ukrainan Foreign Affairs Minister Poroshenko

On the afternoon 27 January MCC Northwood hosted a short visit by the Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Minister Poroshenko, the Deputy MFA Mr Kostiantyn Yelisieiev, the Defence Attaché Col. Kyryliuk and Secretary Nikitov.

During their visit they were given briefings on counter piracy by Rear Admiral Bartolomé Bauzá, Deputy Commander EU Naval Force Somalia – Operation Atalanta and by NATO’s Deputy Chief of Staff Operations, Cdre Hans Helseth (NOR N). At the end of the visit, Minister Poroshenko thanked both organisations for their help and cooperation following the release of the Ukrainian vessel, MV Ariana.

Minister Poroshenko also announced that Ukraine will participate more actively in the international effort to fight piracy and stabilize Somalia. He reaffirmed Ukraine’s intention to offer a Special Forces team to be used as a Vessel Protection Detachment (VPD) on behalf of Operation Atalanta. He confirmed that detailed planning was going to be started in the coming days.

EUNAVFOR SOMALIA Operation ATALANTA main tasks are to escort merchant vessels carrying humanitarian aid of the ‘World Food Program’ (WFP), to protect vulnerable ships in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean and to deter and disrupt piracy.

Picture Gallery:

Rear Admiral Thorsten Kaehler, Rear Admiral Peter Hudson and Rear Admiral Bartolomé Bauzá

Today, 11 Dec 2009, Rear Admiral Thorsten Kaehler (German Navy) handed over the responsibility of Deputy Operation Commander of the European Union Naval Force Somalia Operation ATALANTA, the EU anti-piracy campaign in the Horn of Africa area, to Rear Admiral Bartolomé Bauzá (Spanish navy). The handover was conducted in the Operational Headquarters in Northwood near London.

Rear Admiral Thorsten Kaehler who joined the operation in June 2009, has been instrumental in overseeing the continued success of EU NAVFOR. He will now return to Germany as Commander of Flotilla 2.

Rear Admiral Bartolomé Bauzá, prior to his new task, had assignments in Joint HQ, Fleet HQ, and Navy HQ (his last tour as DACOS Plans & Policy and Head of the Strategic Planning Branch). He has also served in surface ships, including serving two-year-tours as EW and Ops officer in the corvette “Infanta Elena”, destroyer “Gravina” and the frigates “Andalucía” and “Cataluña”.