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Spokesman says NATO Asked to Act on Piracy

Published Jan 10, 2011 8:04 AM by The Maritime Executive

At informal meeting of NATO Defence Ministers in Budapest, Hungary, World Food Programme and Secretary General (UN) have asked NATO to Play Role in combating piracy around the Somali coast. Standing Naval Maritime Group, composed of seven ships, will be deployed to the Somalia region, arriving within two weeks

JAMES APPATHURAI (NATO Spokesman) 9 October: Ministers began their discussion today on the issue of piracy, in particular off the Somali coast. Piracy is a serious problem for shipping in that area. It is also an immediate threat to the lives of the people in Somalia. Substantially more than 40 percent of the population depends on the food aid being delivered by ship by the World Food Programme, and the World Food Programme requires escorts for their transport ships. Otherwise, they are not able to deliver aid.
Right now a Canadian ship is providing escort for these, but that is not an indefinite commitment. I believe it's to near the 20th of October.

Both the World Food Programme and Secretary General... UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon have asked NATO for help to address these problems. Today Ministers agreed that
NATO should play a role.

NATO will have its Standing Naval Maritime Group, which is composed of seven ships, in the region within two weeks. Nations agreed that NATO would make use of that presence, not necessarily all of the seven ships, but some of those ships, to do two things. One, to ensure that the World Food Programme ships have the escort they need to deliver their essential food supplies, and more generally, to patrol the waters around Somalia, to help stop acts of piracy.

Let me be clear. These roles will be carried out in full complementarity with other parties, including, of course, the European Union, which has already taken very welcome moves to set up its own mission. There is no competition here and plenty of work to go around.

There are still important details to work out, but the bottom line is this, there will soon be NATO military vessels off the coast of Somalia deterring piracy and escorting food shipments. That is good news for the Somalis and it is good news for international shipping.