Posted on 12/08/2008 4:13:13 PM PST by Tailgunner Joe
A European fleet of six warships commanded by a British Admiral has taken charge of anti-piracy patrols in the waters off Somalia.
The new force, which carries at least two spotter planes for aerial reconnaissance, takes over from a Nato-led flotilla to lead international military efforts to thwart pirates who have attacked almost 100 vessels in the Gulf of Aden this year.
Codenamed Operation Atalanta, the EU deployment is headed by Vice-Adml Philip Jones of Britain's Permanent Joint Headquarters at Northwood, and includes warships from France, Spain and Greece.
"This operation under British command, I hope will begin to establish international order in seas that are vital to trade right around the world," said David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, as he arrived in Brussels for a formal force hand-over in Brussels.
Patrols will escort commercial ships and guard aid deliveries to Somalia's ports.
A spokeswoman for Javier Solana, the EU's foreign policy director, said that the force will operate under "robust rules of engagement" but did not say whether this included the mandate to board seized ships or free kidnapped crews.
The fleet will arrive at its bases in Djibouti and Kenya within a week.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
There were the first signs of disagreement over the scope of the EU mission when Germany indicated that it was not prepared actively to pursue and arrest pirates.In a leaked letter, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the German Foreign Minister,, and Franz Josef Jung, the Defence Minister, wrote that: “Arresting people suspected of piracy is not the primary objective of the [German] operation.”
Arrested pirates could pose a legal problem for the navy that apprehends them, because the EU terms of engagement state that they should be handed for trial to the country where the attacked vessel is registered. This will not always be possible, given the international nature of shipping registration and the block on EU prisoners being sent to countries with capital punishment.
Germany said that the EU was in negotiation to hand captured pirates to Kenya for trial but called for debate on whether the United Nations should set up a new court for pirate trials. "The EU is reviewing agreements whereby suspects could be taken by third countries that are willing and in a position to launch criminal proceedings," said Mr Steinmeier.
"Moreover we are in favour of reviewing whether the United Nations could use existing international courts or found a new one to conduct such criminal proceedings."
The EU has conducted 20 peacekeeping operations around the world but this will be its first naval mission. It will not extend to land operations against pirate bases, which some leading figures believe is the only way to stamp out the practice.
General John Craddock, Nato’s top commander, last week said: “You do not stop piracy on the seas. You stop piracy on the land.”
Seyoum Mesfin, the Foreign Minister of Somalia’s neighbour Ethiopia, added: “The pirates are not fish who just sprang up out of the sea. They came out of Somalia. It is far-fetched to try to clamp down on piracy without first having put the situation in mainland Somalia under control." - December 8, 2008
Funny how we are fighting pirates at this day and age.
I was hoping for an Indian admiral with an itchy trigger finger.
Send treats to the troops...
Great because you did it!
www.AnySoldier.com
By what legal authority does the EU dispatch warships?
Pirates win if those are the rules that are in play. Screw the rules. Kill the pirates where they are found and bomb their home ports. Playing nicey-nice won't win a damn thing!
LOL, I got to keep me this picture on file. It sure comes to mind every time I hear anything at all about the British Navy.
So, what will the EU do if they encounter pirates who refuse to politely put up their hands and surrender? Fart in their general direction?
What legal authority do you need to patrol international waters? Great idea and will incorporate nations that don’t want to be placed under direct NATO control. The EU also maintain spearhead ground forces for contingency operations. EUFOR are currently in Bosnia for example.
The ironic thing is, as difficult as the law is about captured pirates (not being handed over to countries with death penalties, etc.)—it would seem to make it more likely that this fleet will just fire on them and then let them drown....killing more of the pirates than would have died had they been quickly handed over to whomever country the flagged ship they attacked was....
I swear the “mercy” of such modern pacifistic laws is more punishing than the old ways—for all involved.
If I were a shipping company head, I would just be sure to equip rocket propelled grenades on my ships, with some training on how to use them—and skip dependence on such gonad-free fleets such as this.
Why do I get the distinct impression that this is going to unfold like a grade “B” comedy?
I can see it now; warships trying to communicate in 7 different languages, running into each other, sinking each other by mistake, getting lost in the fog and running aground on an Iranian coast (my; won’t they just love that!), or having an Italian aircraft carrier with a crew of about 749 (how many Italians does it take to run an aircraft carrier, anyway?) get boarded and taken hostage by a dozen skinny Somalian teenagers with rusty AK-47s and an RPG.
Oh; Lawdy!!; Don’t EVEN get me started on what the French Navy is apt to contribute to this maritime marvel!!!
How do you suppose the IDFAF is going to feel when those “spotter aircraft” get off course and stray into Israeli airspace? I know it’s quite a ways off course, but I have confidence in this EU undertaking, don’t ya see?
Gosh; I sure hope that someone catches all of this operation on film; it’s bound to be a real hoot!
(Let’s just hope that no one other than a few Pirates, perhaps, gets hurt in all of this frolicsome folly!)
Yes, the world needs to allow India to be “on point” with the pirate problem (if they could be persuaded with funds, support, extra ships etc.)
Why doesn’t the US arrange to provide the Indian Navy with some of our mothballed destroyers and frigates, maybe other ships, in exchange for a leading role by the Indian Navy in anti-piracy patrols?
Haven’t we mothballed some of our older amphibious assault ships? Providing India with a couple of those plus some helicopters could provide a wide reach in the northern parts of the Indian Ocean......
It would also help to protect Mumbai and India’s west coast from any future terrorist incursions — beef up India’s fleet of frigates and destroyers, and maybe
Just help India to sink a few more pirate vessels and the scumbags will start to get the message....
This is from last April, but it gives a good indication of how far the UK has fallen — this is how the Euros view combatting piracy on the high seas:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article3736239.ece
From The Sunday Times
April 13, 2008
Pirates can claim UK asylum
Marie Woolf, Whitehall Editor
THE Royal Navy, once the scourge of brigands on the high seas, has been told by the Foreign Office not to detain pirates because doing so may breach their human rights.
Warships patrolling pirate-infested waters, such as those off Somalia, have been warned that there is also a risk that captured pirates could claim asylum in Britain.
The Foreign Office has advised that pirates sent back to Somalia could have their human rights breached because, under Islamic law, they face beheading for murder or having a hand chopped off for theft.
Re: #17
Imagine that, you can’t detain pirates because it might “breach their human rights”
Of course you can’t kill them..... human rights, you know.
And if you do capture any you can’t send them back to Somalia b/c that would also violate their “human rights”.....
Don’t arrest them, SINK them. If they can swim to shore, fine. That way, the Eurosissies can keep a clean conscience about not using the death penalty.
My aren’t you the armchair admiral! Easy to mock from a comfy chair isn’t it wearing your paper admiral’s hat? Has it escaped your attention that even U.S. naval forces in the region have operated under control of European nation NATO commanders?
Easy to mock, but it appears on here those nations are damned if they do and damned if they don’t.
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