Current Military Forces Present

Military forces present in the Horn of Africa on 28 March 2012:

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

These are ships from Operation Atalanta, Operation Ocean Shield, CTF 151 and the independent navies.

Read more about the campaigns.

South Korea Up-date

South Korea announced in the week before Christmas that it has extended its anti-piracy operation off the coast of Somalia for one more year. Cheonghae, the name of the mission, was the first ever over-seas deployment of South Korean navy forces.

It is also interesting to note that one of Cheonghae's first roles in May 2009 involved the 'rescuing' of a North Korean ship. It is also interesting that despite the growing tensions in the South China Sea and the accusations by South Korea that China is aiding piracy there, China and South Korea continue to work together in the waters off the Horn of Africa.

And in the same week that the mission was extended, the South Korean Supreme Court heard the appeal against sentencing by a group of Somali men. The five were convicted of hi-jacking a South Korean ship in January 2011, one man was sentenced to life and the other four were sentenced to between 12 to 15 years each. The appeal was denied and the sentences were upheld.

It would have been an interesting court case, the South Korean courts were unable to find a Somali / Korean translator - instead there were four translators: one Somali (Somali/English), two Koreans (English/Korean) and one Korean University Professor to translate Arabian into Korean.

Coalition of the Willing

"It is particularly ironic that many of the nations that are presently contributing warships to the anti-piracy flotillas patrolling, or set to patrol, the waters off the Horn of Africa, are themselves directly linked to the foreign fishing vessels that are busily plundering Somalia's offshore resources," Clive Schofield, University of Wollongong, and author of Plundered Waters: Somalia's Maritime Resource Insecurity 2009.

Fighting piracy off the coast of Somalia is now big business, private security companies and international military forces are all working in the Horn of Africa to combat piracy – that is the Somali 'pirates'. They do not focus on the international shipping fleets poaching the Somalian fish or the international ships that are dumping toxic waste; they focus on the local Somalian people.

Since 2008 more than 30 countries have sent navies to the Gulf of Aden. Most of the G20 countries are active in the area. A large number of international organisations are also suddenly involved in the fight; before piracy off the coast of Somalia became popular, only the IMO and Interpol had policy relating to piracy. Now even the World Bank does. Regional and state organisations such as the EU, NATO, the Arab League and the African Union also have policy or play active roles in the area.

An unprecedented number of Resolutions has been passed by The United Nations Security Council authorising military operations in the area, the most recent in November 2011.
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Current Military Forces Present

Military forces in the Horn of Africa on 25 November 2011:

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

These are ships from Operation Atalanta, Operation Ocean Shield, CTF 151, and the independent navies.

Read more about the campaigns: