NATO warship frees pirated fishing vessel
The Danish warship HDMS Esbern Snare part of NATO’s counter-piracy mission Operation OCEAN SHIELD freed a hijacked fishing vessel in the Somali basin on 11 February.
The operation was launched after HDMS Esbern Snare came across a suspicious vessel with two skiffs on deck. Members of the crew surrendered shortly after the firing of warning shots. Search operation aboard led to the release of two Yemeni hostages, as well as the capture of 16 suspected pirates and the seizure of AK-47s, rocket propelled grenade launchers and ammunition. The original fishing crew of 9 people had been held captivity for a year; all but the two Yemeni hostages had already been released.
"I am very pleased that we have succeeded in capturing a pirate mothership. These ships provide the pirates with a floating base when they are operating far from the shore. They pose a great threat to the merchant shipping. We have now eliminated one of these threats" Commander Haumann, Commanding Officer of HDMS Esbern Snare stated.
NATO has been contributing to the international counter-piracy effort off the Horn of Africa since December 2008. The mission has expanded from escorting UN and World Food Programme Shipping under Operation Allied Provider and protecting merchant traffic in the Gulf of Aden under Operation Allied Protector. In addition to these activities and as part of the latest mission, Operation Ocean Shield, NATO is working with other international bodies to help develop capacity of countries in the region to tackle piracy on their own.
Standing NATO Maritime Group 2 (SNMG2) is permanently assigned to NATO. It is a multi-national Naval Group that provides the NATO Alliance with the ability to respond quickly to crisis situations anywhere in the world. It is a capable, stand-alone task group and one of four standing maritime elements that form a flexible core around which NATO can build a larger force to meet a wide range of missions. These include non-combatant evacuations, consequence management, counter terrorism, crisis response and embargo operations. Its command rotates amongst the contributing nations and SNMG 2 is currently commanded by Commodore Michiel B. Hijmans, Royal Netherlands Navy.
NATO has announced its continuing commitment to counter-piracy by extending Operation Ocean Shield to December 2012.