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Somalia: More Pirate Attacks Expected in September

Paul Redfern

27 July 2009

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Nairobi — The British commander of the European Union's anti-piracy operation off the coast of Somalia has warned that there could be a significant increase in pirate attacks on merchant ships following the end of the monsoon season.

Rear Admiral Peter Hudson, the senior British officer commanding the EU anti-piracy mission, said the current monsoon season -- with waves rising up to four metres -- had led to a drop in the seizing of merchant ships in the region.

But as the weather changes in the next few months, pirate activity could pick up sharply, Rear-Admiral Hudson told the UK-based Financial Times newspaper.

"There's a possibility that pirates will come out in force in the autumn," he said.

"As the commander, I have to work with colleagues in Nato and other coalition forces to make sure we put our ships in the best place to counter that."

At present the large anti-piracy patrol operation involving 34 naval ships has led to a marked decline in successful pirate attacks on merchant shipping.

Six months ago, one in three pirate attacks in the region were successful. Today it is one in nine, an official from Operation Atalanta said.

However, with 25,000 merchant ships passing through the Gulf of Aden each year, the scale of the challenge is huge.

Rear Admiral Hudson has warned already merchant shipping that a significant number of attacks might take place in the Gulf of Aden in September in spite of increased surveillance operations by national navies off Somalia.

Since the EU task force, was launched a year ago, it has been in the vanguard of the international anti-piracy drive.

The EU coalition has some 12 ships on patrol in the region, Nato has five and the US-led "combined maritime force" four. National navies, including Russia, China, India and Japan, have a total of 13 ships on anti-piracy patrol.

Admiral Hudson said there was far more pressure on pirates because of the large number of forces in the area. But the scale of ocean that needed to be patrolled -- two million sq km -- made anti-piracy operations difficult.

Operation Atalanta is the first maritime operation the EU has carried out since it first deployed troops outside the bloc's borders in 1999. It is regarded by member states as one of the EU's most successful missions.

Admiral Hudson said that British authorities would want to reflect on the lessons from the operation in terms of what co-operation with the EU can achieve.

"It [has] exposed to us that across the EU's goals, we can deliver effectively through missions of this nature," he said.

"From a UK perspective, we've been pleasantly surprised at the success we have had," he said. "It [has] exposed to us that across the EU's goals, we can deliver effectively through missions of this nature. We need to reflect upon this and see how it changes our relations for the future."

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