NATO to Send Standing Naval Group to Fight Piracy

NATO agreed to send a new naval group to the coast of Somalia to fight piracy, German Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung said.

Speaking to reporters at North Atlantic Treaty Organization headquarters in Brussels, Jung didn’t say when the new task force will head to sea. NATO’s current anti-piracy force is scheduled to leave the Somali waters on June 28.

NATO defence ministers earlier Friday agreed to prolong the military alliance's anti-piracy operations in the pirate-infested Gulf of Aden, with at least six countries ready to take part in the new mission. NATO thereby will retain a long-term naval presence off the Horn of Africa, where its anti-piracy flotilla has been key to the international patrols preventing attacks on merchant shipping in one of the world's busiest sea lanes, ministers said Friday.

The alliance flotilla operating in the region will sail home at the end of the month. But ministers said they decided to dispatch a follow-on force known as Standing Maritime Force 2. "Permanent groups from NATO are going to continue to be present ... in this complex challenge to eradicate piracy," Spanish Defense Minister Carmen Chacon said. A NATO flotilla has been stationed off Somalia since November. It was joined by an EU squadron, a U.S.-led task force, and ships from a number of other nations including China, India, Malaysia and Russia. Their main task is officially to escort World Food Program vessels carrying food aid to Somalia, though it has been proven that this is not necessary, because before any consignment is delivered Somali businessmen have to come up with huge bonds, securing transport and delivery of the food.

Source:Ecoterra, June 13, 2009

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