Somali piracy report published

- The UK House of Lords EU Committee has published a report that examines the effectiveness of EU Operation Atalanta, which was set up to combat piracy in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean, which is a serious and continuing threat to UK and European Union (EU) interests.

With this in mind, the report makes recommendations regarding the duration of Operation Atalanta, the World Food Programme and the vessels being used by the programme and contributions from the insurance and shipping industries to combating pirates in the region

Methods used by pirates in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean remain basic. The success of Operation Atalanta and other efforts means that pirates have been forced to operate further offshore in the Indian Ocean, increasing their risk of detection as they have to use larger vessels. Given this displacement of piracy further into the Indian Ocean, it is all the more important that Atalanta has the right capabilities.

The report agrees with the increasingly robust action taken against pirates by Atalanta forces, arguing that there is a need to change the perceived risk/reward ratio for pirate activity. It welcomes the EU’s agreements with Kenya and the Seychelles to prosecute pirates, and the negotiations now taking place with other states in the region and is waiting see the number of successful prosecutions that will result.

The report argues that there will be no solution to the problem of piracy without a solution to the root causes of the conflict on land in Somalia. Accordingly it supports EU efforts to deal with Somalia’s problems by building up the security sector in line with democratic norms, providing humanitarian assistance and assisting the authorities in Somaliland to strengthen their coastguards.

If the piracy problems of the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean are not robustly tackled, there will be copy-cat piracy elsewhere on the world’s shipping lanes adjacent to failed states or regions where a government’s writ fails to reach.

The report, which will be available online shortly at: http://www.parliament.uk/hleuc/ also identifies capability shortfalls which prevent improvements to the effectiveness of Atalanta, including airborne surveillance medical facilities and tanker support for re-fuelling.

(Source: Container Management)