EUNAVFOR Task Force 465 Change of Command Ceremony. The change of command ceremony between of Commander Task Force 465 Germany and Spain was held onboard EUNAVFOR Flagship, FGS BAYERN on 6 December 2011 in Djibouti.
On this occasion, Rear Admiral Thomas Jugel, German Navy handed over his responsibility as Force Commander to Captain Jorge Manso Revilla, Spanish Navy, in a ceremony chaired by Rear Admiral Christian Canova, French Navy, Deputy Commander Operation ATALANTA. Mr. Thomas de Maizière, German Minister for Defence honoured this ceremony by his presence and was accompanied by LT GEN Rainer Glatz, Bundeswher Operation Commander and VADM Axel Schimpf, Chief of the German Navy. Colonel Abdourahman Aden Cher, Chief of the Djiboutian Navy, Mr. Dietmar Bock, German Ambassador to Djibouti and General William Kurtz, Commander of the French Forces in Djibouti were also in attendance. Notably, representatives from key other counter piracy actors such as RADM Sinan Tosun, NATO CTF 508 and RADM Kaleem Shaukat CMF CTF 151 made this ceremony a unique event by the reunion of the "Big Three" CTFs.
The outgoing Force Commander, RADM Jugel, expressed his pride that, despite the limited number of assets available to Operation Atalanta during the past few months, the ATALANTA had successfully continued to provide protection to World Food Programme shipping at a time when the humanitarian situation in the Horn of Africa had seriously deteriorated. Whilst emphasizing his honour to be entrusted with representing this Operation, the new Spanish Force Commander, CAPT Manso Revilla equally stressed his determination to ensure that humanitarian aid would reach those affected by famine in the region while continuing robust counter piracy actions.
Rear Admiral Canova’s closing address gave him the opportunity to present an assessment of current counter piracy‘s efforts which sucessfully contain piracy. Good coordination between counter piracy actors and an efficient use of the new EUNAVFOR Rules of Engagement profile by the outgoing Force Commander, had undoubtedly made a significant impact on the ability of the Somali Pirate to deploy during the traditional inter monsoon hunting season. The continuation of this success, though, was stressed by all to be entirely dependent on the continued support for the mission from Member States through the provision of military assets. RADM Christian CANOVA saluted the large contribution of RADM Jugel to contain piracy this year, but pointed out that the solution to eradicate it from Somali was more and more political, requiring a comprehensive effort involving Somali authorities.
Asked during the press conference if the threat from piracy had been effectively beaten, the German Minister for Defence and Deputy Commander Atalanta shared the view that one should not be duped into thinking this and that much remained to be done for the phenomenon to be eradicated fully. It was eventually agreed that the continued efforts at sea would have to be matched by further achievement in the field of prosecution and eventually in stabilizing Somalia.