EU NAVFOR Force Commander Rear Admiral Jan Thörnqvist (left) and General Thierry Caspar-Fille-Lambie (right) on the bridge of the flagship HSwMS Carlskrona

On 22 July, Rear Admiral Jan Thörnqvist, Force Commander EU NAVFOR, hosted General Thierry Caspar-Fille-Lambie, Commander of the French Forces in Djibouti on board the flagship HSwMS CARLSKRONA.  The main topic of the meeting was how to better support regional countries in their efforts to counter piracy and create a safe environment for shipping.

Rear Admiral Thörnqvist stated:  “This meeting will improve the possibilities for even better co-operation between EUNAVFOR and the French Forces in Djibouti. Improvements can be made in both operational and logistical terms”.

The French Armed Forces in Djibouti have a good knowledge of regional issues and are closely co-operating with Djiboutian authorities. EU NAVFOR has been operating in the region for the last two years conducting anti-piracy operations.  Djibouti is one of the main forward operating locations for EU NAVFOR with significant maritime and aviation facilities.

EU NAVFOR Somalia – Operation ATALANTA’s main tasks are to escort merchant vessels carrying humanitarian aid of the World Food Programme (WFP) and vessels of  African Union Mission in Somalia, AMISOM and to protect vulnerable vessels 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.

Cdr Damiano presents EUNAVFOR crest to Mr Giscard D'Estaing

On the 17th of February, the Senior French Member of Parliament, Louis Giscard d’Estaing, Deputy President of the Financial Committee visited the EU NAVFOR Force HQ Support Area (FHQSA) in Djibouti. The French politician is also responsible for the French Operational Defence Budget.

Mr Giscard d’Estaing was briefed on the EU NAVFOR Somalia – Operation Atalanta and the part played by the FHQSA. The Officer in Command, CDR (ITN) Emanuele DAMIANO, stated that he was “extremely grateful to the French Forces for hosting EU NAVFOR personnel and providing excellent facilities to conduct Operation ATALANTA inside the French base “AERIENNE 188”. These facilities provide an excellent contribution to the anti piracy operation.”

Mr. Louis Giscard d’Estaing expressed his appreciation to the FHQ SA for their contribution to the success of Op Atalanta. French ships and personnel already contribute in the Area of Operation (AOO) and he stated that “he was pleased that this cooperation extended to the excellent support facilities in Djibouti.”

EUNAVFOR SOMALIA Operation ATALANTA’s main tasks are to escort merchant vessels of the ‘World Food Program’ (WFP) and AMISOM shipping, to protect vulnerable ships in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean, to deter and disrupt piracy, and to monitor the fishing activity off the coast of Somalia.

Rear Adm Hudson inspects Kenyan Naval Guard

From 29 Nov to 2 Dec, Rear Admiral Peter Hudson Operational Commander of EU NAVFOR Somalia – Operation Atalanta, visitied Djibouti and Kenya to say thank you to the authorities for their cooperation in fighting piracy and for their excellent support to EU NAVFOR. In Djibouti Admiral Hudson met a number of Djiboutian officials and agreed further cooperation and information sharing. He also met UNHCR and was also able to review the facilitites at the French military base where the EU NAVFOR Maritime Patrol aircraft are based.

On flying to Nairobi, the Admiral met Kenyan officials and expressed his gratitude for the exemplary role played by Kenya in anti piracy. He also met with representatives from the World Food Programme, UNODC and UNSOA culminating in discussions with Swedish Ambassador Ann Dismor (Sweden holds the EU Presidency) and he also attended EU Heads of Mission meeting at the Embassy.

In Mombasa, Admiral Hudson was invited to meet the Kenyan Navy where he praised the effort of the Kenyan military for their support to EU NAVFOR for the anti piracy effort. Agreements were concluded to take Kenyan Naval Officers to sea in EU NAVFOR warships and the MPRA offered by Kenya on a previous visit by Adm Hudson would be starting operations within a few days. (See future press release)

Admiral Hudson concluded his visit to Africa by hosting a press conference onboarda the EU NAVFOR French ship FLOREAL that was visiting Mombasa at the time. In an address to the ships company of FLOREAL, Admiral Hudson stated “well done for the excellent contribution that you are making to the fight against piracy.”

Postscript: 2 days after this address, FLOREAL played a central role in the capture of eleven pirates off the Seychells.

Picture gallery

LtGen David Leaky and Cdr Pieter Bindt

On sunday 11 october the Ambassadors of the Political and Security Committee (PSC) of the European Union visited the European Union Naval Force under the Security and Defence Policy, the first Naval operation under ESDP.

The visit was hosted onboard the EU NAVFOR German warship KARLSRUHE in the port of Djibouti at the invitation of the EU NAVFOR Force Commander Commodore Pieter Bindt. In his Brief to the Brussels Delegation the Dutch Force Commander gave an overview of the operational tasks and the challenges they faced daily. He went on to explain the considerable achievements to date and how well the different nations’ ships were working together.

The Director General European Union Military Staff, General David Leaky, expressed his delight at the success of the visit. “It is really important to show the Ambassadors, what the EU NAVFOR has achieved so far. The brief from the Force Commander and the Commanding Officer of the frigate Karlsruhe gave them a lasting impression of the success of EU NAVFOR mission”

Skoog and his Ambassador collegues get certain informations in the EU NAVFOR MPA cockpit

The Head of Department and Representative for Sweden to the PSC, Olof Skoog stated, “the EU was able to position the EU NAVFOR Mission in the Centre of all anti-Piracy activities”.

The Delegation were particularly interested in the maritime assets that have been used so far in the Gulf of Aden and the Somali basin down to the Seychelles.  After visiting Karlsruhe they were given the opportunity to see the Maritme Patrol Aircraft in the Air Detachement. Ambassador Skoog was extremely impressed by the Cooperation between all units and their capabilities to deter and prevent piracy along the Somali coastline.

EU NAVFOR Force Commander Commodore Pieter Bindt was pleased with the meetings and stated: “As Force Commander I consider it an honour and great benefit to inform the political deciding and guiding Committee of Operation Atalanta in progress, developments and results after 10 months of EU NAVFOR operations”.

On Saturday 19 September a exausted man was saved by the Swedish units after swimming nearly 3 km in an attempt to board the sealift vessel that will bring the EU NAVFOR Swedish warships back home.

On Friday 18 September the EU NAVFOR Swedish warships MALMOE, STOCKHOLM and TROSSOE sailed to sealift vessel EIDE anchored outside Djibouti port.
On Saturday night one of the soldiers standing anchor-watch detected a person that climbed the anchor cable and one trying to do the same behind him. The second man fell back in to the sea and HMS MALMOE threw a floating device over board. The crew of MALMOE pulled him onboard.

The men were returned to the authorities in Djibouti.

Additional Pictures

Swedish Officer and Djiboutian Officer

To increase the knowledge about the European Union Naval Force and the aims of operation Atalanta, a liaison officer from the Djiboutian Navy was invited to participate in a patrol onboard the EU NAVFOR Swedish warship HMS TROSSOE .

Lt Mahad Douhour Maidaneh has been in the Djiboutian Navy for seven years and he is now CO of a Djibouti Navy vessel tasked with the mission to protect the coast and civilian ships from piracy.

“The protection that the European Union offers to the World Food Programme is extremely important to the Somali people. The merchant trade is also very important for Djibouti. We are a small country and we will work together with other countries to make The Gulf of Aden a safer place” says, Lt Douhour Maidaneh.

Lt Douhour Maidaneh will inform his colleagues in the Djiboutian Navy about the impressions gained during the week onboard a EU NAVFOR warship.

The journalists hailed from Spain and Germany, with officials from Djibouti, were able to be part of the a demonstration of counter piracy tactics and how the EU NAVFOR units defend against attacks. Briefings commenced on board Commandante BORSINI with the daily weather report which gave an indication of the crew’s daily working conditions in 42 degrees Celsius and high humidity.

In the Command and Information Centre (CIC), the Operations Officers explained the cooperation, not only between the units of EU NAVFOR, but also the unprecedented Coordination against piracy at sea between multinational Units present in the Gulf of Aden.

As a fictional distress call of a merchant ship comes in, the journalists were impressed by the fast action taking place on board BORSINI. The helicopter was alerted, and a ships fast patrol boat was prepared to pursue suspected pirates.

Moving to the bridge, the guests saw the suspected pirates attempting to  scape. The pirates refused to stop and warning shots were fired to stop their skiff. When they did not react, Borsini Helicopter was tasked to take more aggressive action to catch them.

The helicopter zeroed in on the small pirate skiff and the boat from BORSINI then arrested the pirates.

The next demonstration involved the BORSINI being used as a fictional ship to be boarded, and to show the capacity of the boarding team. Eight marines demonstrated fast roping action onto the flight deck of BORSINI. The fast roping was conducted from a height of over 10metres down to the deck of the ship as the team secured themselves in order to investigate the ship.

The journalists were then given the opportunity to fly in the helicopter to get an impression of the weather and visibility conditions in the Bab el Mandeb and Gulf of Aden areas.

After lunch in the officers mess, journalists interviewed the Commanding Officer and had the chance to talk to several crew members. On the way back to Djibouti port they were given a tour of the ship.

Journalists and officials were pleased to get the chance to join EU NAVFOR and stated: “Now we have a much better understanding of how EU NAVFOR works and also the challenging task of protecting world shipping in these dangerous waters.”

The Media day showed not only the unprecedented coordination at sea, it was also an example of the cooperation of European member states. On the Italian ship, public affairs officers hailing from Finland, Germany, United Kingdom and Sweden, support the media. The Force Headquarters Support element in Djibouti hailing from Spain and Greece worked closely with the Djibouti authorities to enable the Media day.

FS COMMANDANT BOUAN

Early today four sailors from Somalia, who had been rescued during a distress at sea incident, were safely brought back to their home country by a French EU NAVFOR warship.

Ten days ago, on Thursday, 28 May 2009, eight Somali sailors were found in a small boat with a malfunctioning engine in the Gulf of Aden. Two were found dead, four others were injured and two remained unhurt. They were found by the French EU NAVFOR Atalanta ship, COMMANDANT BOUAN, investigating a distress call from a merchant vessel under pirate attack. The attack had been thwarted by an Indian warship escorting a convoy, however no further information could be gleaned. No evidence was discovered concerning the question whether the Somali sailors were involved in this attempted piracy incident. Subsequently, they were rescued by the French warship in accordance with the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) obligating masters of all vessels to provide help to those in distress.

The castaways explained to the BOUAN’s crew that they were citizens from Puntland in the North of Somalia. The two unhurt sailors and the two dead sailors were transferred to Boosaaso and handed over to the Puntland Coast Guard last Monday.

The remaining four injured people were transferred to the French Military Hospital in Djibouti for medical treatment after having been rescued and have now been transferred to Boosaaso and handed over to a Coast Guard vessel, as survivors.

The transfers were conducted by the French frigate COMMANDANT BOUAN as tasked by the EU NAVFOR Atalanta Force Headquarters.

Spainish Maritime Partol Aircraft flying over the Frigate NUMANCIA

This week has seen significant activity both by the hijackers operating off the Somalia coast in the Indian Ocean and by Op Atalanta in combating their actions.

As a result of the good weather conditions and the deterrent effect of warships from EU NAVFOR, NATO and CTF 151 and other independent nations in the Gulf of Aden the hijackers have moved the attention into the Somali Basin. This has resulted in a number of hijackings both of merchant vessels and other smaller craft.

In an effort to locate these pirates in the vast area of the Indian Ocean EU NAVFOR has now begun regular surveillance sorties using Spanish and French Maritime Patrol Aircraft.

However, the pirates have not had it all their own way. As a result of FGS RHEINLAND-PFALZ’s action last week in the Gulf of Aden, when a number of misguided Somalis attempted to attack a German Military tanker, 7 suspects were handed over to the Kenyan police in Mombasa earlier this week for prosecution.

Also the Greek Atalanta Flagship which handed over command to the Spanish Frigate ESPS NUMANCIA last weekend in Djibouti also apprehended 5 suspects early last week after a Norwegian owner chemical tanker was attacked in the Gulf of Aden.

FGS SPESSART refuelling at Sea

Two German ships from NATO have joined Op Atalanta in the Gulf of Aden this week; the frigate FGS EMDEN and the tanker FGS SPESSART. The vessels have been detached from NATO’s Standing Naval Maritime Group One (SNMG1) which is on deployment to the Far East and are expected to remain under EU NAVFOR’s command until the end of April.

This weekend another German warship, the FGS RHEINLAND-PFALZ will escort EU NAVFOR’s 19^th World Food Program shipment into Mogadishu. This will bring the total tonnage delivered to Somalia to over 120,000 – enough to feed over 2 million displaced people every day since Op Atalanta was established last December.

Last weekend the EU NAVFOR French ship FS FLOREAL was involved in recovering a large skiff that was stranded in the Gulf of Aden carrying approximately 100 refugees. The warship assisted those onboard with humanitarian aid and towed the vessel to the Port of Aden to be handed over to the Yemeni coastguard and the United Nations High Commission for Refugees.

In a separate operation the French Warship FS GEORGES LEYGUES, which is temporarily attached to EU NAVFOR, rescued the crew from the 4,000 tonne MV Sibley 1 which caught fire and sank 350 miles off the coast of Tanzania on Saturday. The 31 man crew were then transferred to the FS JEANNE D’ ARC, which is also attached to EU NAVFOR and currently en route to Djibouti.