Nato ships on piracy duty soon
2008-10-22 18:01
Brussels - Nato warships will start to combat piracy off the coast of Somalia in the next few days and escort aid ships to the largely lawless Horn of Africa country, an alliance spokesperson said on Wednesday.
"In a few days, operations will begin," chief Nato spokesperson James Appathurai told reporters in Brussels. "The operational plan and the rules of engagement should be agreed and finalised in the next day or two."
Appathurai said that Nato frigates and destroyers were heading toward the area where Somali pirates have attacked more than 30 foreign ships this year - double last year's figure - but that they had been held up by heavy seas.
He said the vessels, from a Nato standing force of seven ships, and their crews would have "a full range of self defence" measures, including the "use of force", and that their mission would be complex.
"What they are trying to do is very complicated," he said. "There are a host of pirates, but they don't identify themselves with eye-patches and hook hands so it isn't immediately obvious that they are pirates."
Captured pirates will be dealt with under the rules of the nation that each ship involved belongs to.
Vessels will also help escort UN World Food Programme (WFP) food shipments, until the European Union can launch its own operation, probably in December.
The WFP ships 30 000-35 000 tonnes of aid into Somalia each month. Its vessels are currently under Canadian escort, but that service is due to come to an end on Thursday, when a Dutch craft will take over, Appathurai said.
Piracy is rife and well organised in the region where Somalia's northeastern tip juts into the Indian Ocean, preying on a key maritime route leading to the Suez Canal through which an estimated 30% of the world's oil transits.
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.
On October 9, the EU announced that its mission - with ships from Belgium, Cyprus, France, Germany, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and possibly Britain - would be run from a headquarters at Northwood, north of London.
Vice-Admiral Philip Jones was named its commander.
Appathurai said the presence of the ships, including some from Russia and India, was expected to deter would-be pirates.
"There will be a number of very competent and very effective military ships co-ordinating with each other ... to provide presence, to provide deterrence and where necessary and possible to intervene to prevent acts of piracy," he said.