EU to launch anti-piracy mission next week

BELGIUM: A European Union flotilla will begin anti-piracy operations off the coast of Somalia next week, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said Tuesday.

The six warships and three maritime reconnaissance aircraft will replace a NATO naval force that has been patrolling the region and escorting cargo ships carrying relief aid to Somalia since the end of October.

Although the NATO ships have successfully delivered nearly 30,000 tons of humanitarian supplies to the impoverished nation, they have not been able to stem the upsurge in pirate attacks on foreign shipping in one of the most important shipping lanes in the world.

Solana said the EU warships will arrive Monday, and the hand-over with the NATO force will take place Dec. 15.

The task force - codenamed Operation Atalanta - will be the EU's first naval operation. It will have the same duties as the NATO mission, including escorting cargo vessels, protecting merchant ships and deterring pirate attacks.

"These tasks will be done with very robust rules of engagement," Solana told reporters on the sidelines of a meeting of NATO foreign ministers.

The ministers agreed on Monday to ask the U.N. Security Council to clarify the legal issues involved in the anti-piracy effort. They will discuss on Wednesday whether to deploy a follow-up anti-piracy mission to assist the EU ships.

Under the current U.N. mandate, the international fleet operating off the Horn of Africa has not been able to board ships seized by the pirates in order to free their hostages.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier welcomed the EU deployment.

BRUSSELS, Wednesday, AP