Current Military Forces Present

Military forces present in the Horn of Africa on 14 July 2012:

Australia, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, Seychelles, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, and the USA.

These are ships from Operation Atalanta, Operation Ocean Shield, CTF 151 and the independent navies. Note: Greece and the UK no longer participate due to austerity measures.)

Read more about the campaigns.

Dubai Conference June 2012

In the last week of June, the second international counter-piracy conference to be held in the UAE (United Arab Emirates) occurred.

 The conference was attended by more than 400 people representing 41 countries, executives from 73 maritime companies and organisations, and various UN and IMO (International Maritime Organisation) personnel. Present at the conference were both President Shaikh Sharif Shaikh Ahmad of the TFG and President Ahmad Mohammad Silyano of Somaliland.

The Conference's aim was to further advance public-private coordination in the fight against piracy. During the conference, the UAE pledged 1 million U.S. dollars to the Somali maritime security and coastguard. Earlier in the month the UAE had withdrawn their funding of the Puntland Maritime Police Force. (This funding had only been announced in February this year. Read the story here)

The UAE and France also announced that with the help of France, the UAE will host training of Somali judges to support and enable local, Somalia-based prosecutions of people charged with piracy. The first group of 31 Somali judges will travel to the UAE in October for training in holding piracy trials.

The UAE are the current chair of the Contact Group on Piracy.

Netherlands Increases Role in OceanShield

On 2nd July, just weeks after the Netherlands increased its contribution to the NATO anti-piracy fleet, Operation Oceanshield, it has arrested more alleged pirates - and this time handed them over to Oman for prosecution. The seven people were arrested on 29th June when the Dutch navy freed a hi-jacked Omani-flagged dhow.

After the incident, the Dutch commander of Oceanshield, Commodore Ben Bekkering, is reported as saying, "...the joy on the faces of the freed crew in an equally beautiful picture as container ships arriving in Rotterdam." (Bekkering has a Facebook and Twitter account he updates regularly.)
In 2010, Bekkering was captain of one of the first reported incidents of overt patrolling of coastal villages in Somalia. It is alleged that using both landing craft and the warship, Bekkering patrolled close enough into the shore to be able to observe  the coast and villages, and to stop boats and ships leaving the habours.

Netherlands has only within the last two weeks increased significantly its involvement in Operation Oceanshield. In early June, the Dutch parliament voted to  spend US$16.5 million, this money is to provide: extra personnel, two Cougar helicopters, a drone and an additional submarine. In the same week, the parliament turned down a request from merchant ship owners to use private security for protection.

As to Atalanta,  the Dutch parliament declared it 'controversial' due to the mandate that allows Atalanta forces to attack coastal 'pirate' camps from the sea or land. Operation Oceanshield still does not have this mandate.