SUMMARY
Operation Atalanta is the EU's first naval operation.
It was launched in 2008 under UK leadership, with the purpose
of protecting World Food Programme ships delivering aid to Somalia,
and preventing and combating piracy off the Somali coast. The
Committee first reported on Atalanta in April 2010, when we outlined
a number of concerns about the mission and the situation in Somalia.
Since then two further EU missions have been launched, one, based
in Uganda, to train Somali security forces, (EUTM Somalia), and
one to support regional maritime capacity-building in the Horn
of Africa and Western Indian Ocean states (EUCAP Nestor).
In this report we welcome the progress made in reducing
the number of pirated ships as a result of efforts by the international
naval task forces, including Atalanta, and by the shipping industry,
which has increasingly used ship protection measures. In June
2012 eight pirated vessels and 215 hostages were held, compared
with 23 vessels and 501 hostages in June the previous year. We
consider that Operation Atalanta must be continued up to and beyond
the expiry of its current mandate in December 2014 in order to
avoid an upsurge in pirate activity.
We welcome the increased involvement of Somalia's
neighbours, led by the Seychelles, in conducting piracy trials,
though we have doubts about the transfer of sentenced pirates
back to Somalia. We also have concerns about the problems created
for the countries involved by the higher standards of prisons
for pirates than for their other prisoners. We believe that some
measure of rehabilitation should be established, especially for
younger pirates, though we recognise that imprisonment needs to
be a real deterrent.
We note with satisfaction the extent of practical
international cooperation in countering piracy, including by China,
and the cooperation with regional organisations such as the African
Union. We believe, however, that the Gulf States should make a
greater effort to assist in solving the problems of piracy and
Somalia.
We concluded in our previous report that piracy would
not be ended until the root causes of the problems in Somalia
were successfully tackled. Since that report, the EU has developed
its activity by formulating a Strategy for the Horn of Africa
and appointing a Special Representative for the area, as well
as launching EUTM Somalia and EUCAP Nestor. We believe that the
missions should be taken forward pro-actively and that the EU's
development aid should focus on providing alternative livelihoods
for the Somali people. These missions must continue until the
incentives for piracy are removed and the coastal states of the
region are able to police their own coastlines. Taken together,
we welcome these developments as assisting the necessary comprehensive
solution to Somalia's problems under the EU's Common Foreign and
Security Policy.
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