Tag: anti piracy measures

Chinese anti-piracy patrol off Somalia A major source of training for the Chinese Navy is the anti-piracy patrol off Somalia, where an international force keeps Somali pirates from interfering with shipping passing through the area. China has been participating in this operation since 2008. Each Chinese "naval escort task force" consists of one or two destroyers or frigates and one or two supply ships. The 11th such task force is now on its way to the Somali coast, and consists of a destroyer, a frigate and a supply ship. About 800 sailors are involved, 70 of them special operations personnel. Each task force spends four months off the Somali coast. This particular task force is the first from the North China Sea fleet. The other task forces have been drawn from the other two fleets (The East Sea and The South Sea).Service in the Somali task forces is eagerly sought after because it is the most intensive and extensive available. The task force gets practice in long distance cruises (Somalia is 10,000 kilometers distant, and it takes two weeks to get there) and combat operations. Granted, the enemy rarely fires back, and is hard to find. But the crews get ...

EU will continue to support AMISOM with an additional EUR 100 million until 2013 The European Union (EU) has urged Kenya to strengthen its cooperation with the EU in combating piracy off the coast of Somalia.Speaking to the press in Brussels shortly after meeting with the Kenyan Prime Minister, Raila Amollo Odinga, European Union (EU) Council Chief, Herman Van Rompuy, said the east African country is an important partner for the EU in fostering peace, stability and development in the Horn of Africa.Van Rompuy expressed his satisfaction with the Kenyan agreed to integrate its forces in Somalia into the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) to save the peace and security in Somalia.He announced that the EU will continue to support AMISOM with an additional EUR 100 million until 2013.Last week, the EU decided to extend the EU Naval Force Operation ATALANTA off Somalia for two years until December 2014.Van Rompuy said the EU will continue to seek transfer agreements with countries in the region to ensure that suspected pirates are brought to justice.The EU also announced that it will to deploy a civilian crisis management mission to strengthen maritime capacities in the Horn of Africa and Western Indian Ocean ...

Anti-Piracy Operations to counter piracy CYPRUS and France joined forces yesterday for a joint exercise south of the island, in its exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and flight information region (FIR)."This is the first time an exercise of this breadth takes place and indeed with a Cypriot helicopter landing on a French war vessel," Defence Minister Demetris Eliades said.The search and rescue exercise took place between 8am and 12pm, coordinated by the Cyprus Joint Rescue Coordination Centre (JRCC) The scenario involved a piracy incident supposedly taking place within Cyprus' EEZ with injured people being transported to Larnaca General Hospital by helicopter.The exercise was attended by French and Cypriot officials with Eliades praising "the spirit of unity, complete coordination and excellent collaboration" between the two countries,"According to international law, Cyprus has sovereign rights over its EEZ and FIR. However, we also have obligations when it comes to search and rescue," Eliades said.Various bodies worked together yesterday including the police, Larnaca General Hospital, and port authorities while a French helicopter and a French frigate also participated.Eliades said more exercises of this kind would take place in the future with France and other countries.Source: Cyprus Mail

Calling on the international community to adopt a comprehensive counter-piracy strategy India has termed as "worrisome" the increase in attacks by pirates off the coast of Somalia, calling on the international community to adopt a comprehensive counter-piracy strategy to deal with the problem.India's Permanent Representative to the UN Hardeep Singh Puri said such a counter piracy strategy should involve effective sanitisation of the Somali coastline and enactment of national laws on a priority basis to criminalise piracy.It should also involve naval operations by UN-led anti-piracy force as well as coordination of anti-piracy operations by various naval forces, Mr. Puri said at an open debate on Somalia at the UN Security Council here yesterday.Mr. Puri said a number of seafarers, including over 30 Indians, are currently being held as hostages by pirates adding that the humanitarian condition of the hostages is a source of "serious concern" for the Indian government."What is more worrisome is that attacks by pirates have been increasing in spite of counter-piracy operations. Given the growing scope and expanding coverage of piracy off the coast of Somalia, the international community has to think about adopting a comprehensive counter-piracy strategy," Mr. Puri said.He said India, on its part, continues ...

Strengthening maritime cooperation between countries to combat piracy United States (US) Sunday said it has committed about $35 million into the training of naval personnel in Nigeria and other countries within the Gulf of Guinea on how to combat piracy, oil bunkering and other maritime crimes that have plagued the region in recent times.This was revealed in Calabar, Cross River State by Consular-General of the US Consulate in Lagos, Mr. Joseph Stafford, at the closing ceremony of the Obangame Express 2012, an annual naval exercise of Africa, US and Europe hosted by Nigeria. The event was also geared towards building transnational synergy on how to combat maritime crimes which cost the country $2 billion annually.Twelve countries including the United States, Spain and some African maritime nations participated in the one week exercise with the Minister of States for Defence, Mrs. Olusola Obada, conducting the closing ceremony.Stafford said the exercise was aimed at strengthening cooperation between countries in the Gulf of Guinea, the US, Spain, Brazil and other participating countries."More than $2billion is lost annually due to maritime crime. We are already getting better and growing each year to combat illicit activities that are taking place in the maritime domain. They ...

Until December 2014 On 27 February, the EU Foreign Affairs Ministers agreed to extend the mandate of the EU NAVFOR counter-piracy operation Atalanta until December 2014 - Atalanta was initially supposed to run until the end of this year. The extension of the EU's counter-piracy operation was already announced a few days before during the international Conference on Somalia which took place in London on 23 February.In its conclusions the EU Foreign Affairs Council noted that, since the launch of the operation in December 2008, "EU NAVFOR has been successfully escorting the World Food Programme (WFP) and African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) shipments to Somalia, protecting the most vulnerable shipping and deterring, preventing and repressing acts of piracy and armed robbery off the Somali coast". The Ministers therefore are clearly commending the operation's contribution to security and economic activity in the region, and to the international community as a whole.EU Member States are discussing the possibility of extending the mandate of EU NAVFOR Atalanta to include on-shore operations, a step that would allow EU NAVFOR to carry out attacks on pirate installations and facilities on Somali beaches. However, it is understood that Germany is opposed to such an extension. ...

Hollywood-style action sequences highlight piracy threat to world trade An anti-piracy film produced for the international SaveOurSeafarers (SOS) campaign, scooped the top prize at the Royal Television Society (RTS) North-East and Border awards. The short film, produced by YourFilm, fought off stiff competition to win the award for Best Promotion or Commercial at the awards held at Gateshead in north-east England.Featuring Hollywood-style action sequences, the video highlights the significant threat of Somali piracy attacks on the worldwide seafarer community and the impact on world trade.Matthew Newman, MD of YourFilm, said: "The SOS film was a great project to work on and pushed us to our creative limits."It included various unique challenges, not least the logistics of securing a location with a port happy to allow us to film a dozen guys dressed as pirates with AK-47s."Bill Box, Secretary of SOS SaveOurSeafarers, added: "We are delighted that Your Film has received industry recognition for the SaveOurSeafarers video which is playing a pivotal role in taking our campaign message to a wider audience."It has helped us to gain support outside as well as inside the maritime industry and highlights the need for firmer government action against Somali piracy."The campaign, launched in March ...

emarks by Shri AK Antony at the Annual National Maritime Foundation Conference The Defence Minister Shri AK Antony has called for global efforts to uproot the threat of piracy. Inaugurating the Annual National Maritime Foundation Conference here today, Shri Antony said India has already submitted certain proposals at the United Nations. "If ever there was a need for consensual and cooperative effort, it is in relation to piracy and India has put forward certain proposals at the United Nations."The Defence Minister pointed out that the Indian Navy has made significant contribution to the global anti-piracy efforts in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) since 2008. "What is significant is that more than 85 percent of the ships escorted by the Indian Navy are of foreign flag." Shri Antony said that the challenge of piracy is yet to be effectively quarantined. "There is a consensus that while the pirates can be neutralized at sea, the real solution lies in addressing the root causes, which are complex and are actually located on land."The Defence Minister also voiced concern at the military presence of world's major powers in the IOR despite the waters being far from their shores. "Unlike the Atlantic and Pacific, few ...

UN official stresses A comprehensive regional strategy is critical if countries are to successfully combat piracy in the Gulf of Guinea, a top United Nations official stressed today, highlighting the threat posed to the security and economic development of States in the region by the scourge."Gulf of Guinea countries need a united front in order to respond to effectively to the growing threat of piracy along their coasts. Isolated national initiatives are only temporarily, at best, pushing the pirates to shift their criminal operations from one country to the next," B. Lynn Pascoe, Under Secretary-General for Political Affairs, said in a briefing to the Security Council.He told the 15-member body that piracy and armed robbery against ships increasingly undermine efforts by States in the Gulf of Guinea region to maintain peace, security and stability and to promote socio-economic development. The threat has become even more alarming as the pirates have become more violent."While regional States and organizations have carried out initiatives designed to counter piracy and armed robbery against ships at the national and regional levels, the threat not only persists but appears to be gaining ground in a region where the high-value assets the pirates target are abundant," he ...

Anti- piracy operation HMCS Fredericton deployed on a six-month mission to the Arabian Sea, Gulf of Aden and Horn of Africa to conduct counter-piracy and counter terror operations alongside our NATO and Coalition partners.