Newsletter Issues

Last 11th September, at the end of an official tour through several countries in East Africa (among them Kenya, Ethiopia, Mozambique and Somalia), the European Union's High Representative/Vice-President, Josep Borrell, visited the flagship of Operation ATALANTA.

On 7th of July, the Operation Commander welcomed General Robert Brieger

The month of June kicked off with two important events in London. On 8th June, the Operation Commander visited the headquarters of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), where he met IMO’s Secretary General Kitack Lim. Due to the pandemic, the regular annual meetings could not happen since November 2019. The Operation Commander provided a detailed update on the Operation after the non-extension of UNSC Resolution 2608, including its implications on important aspects like the operation within Somali territorial waters, or the impact on Atalanta’s core tasks, i.e. protection of WFP chartered and vulnerable vessels. Secretary General Kitack Lim expressed clear support to ATALANTA, on the fact that Atalanta successfully provided protection to vessels, regardless of their flag, which underlined the role of the EU in the maritime domain.

On 18th May 2022, Atalanta Operation Commander VA Jose M. Nuñez Torrente (OpCdr) presented an operational update before all the Chiefs of Defence of the EU Member States at the EU Military Committee in Brussels. Along with the presentation of the 6 month’s report to the PSC, Atalanta conceives this event as the perfect occasion to highlight the achievements and challenges that conform the present and future of the Operation.

On the 1st of April, a short address to the OHQ multinational staff by Atalanta’s Operation Commander, Rear-Admiral Núñez Torrente, commemorated the third anniversary of EUNAVFOR Somalia Operation Atalanta in Rota. On 29th March 2019, a simple ceremony marked the relocation of the operation Headquarters of EU NAVFOR Atalanta Operation after close to 11 years in Northwood. The Major General of the UK Royal Marines, Charlie Stickland, passed the flag to the Vice Admiral of the Spanish Navy Antonio Martorell.

On 21st of March, the French navy’s LHD Mistral and frigate Courbet seized four tons of cannabis and 90 kilograms of heroin on a stateless dhow. The interception occurred during a regular EUNAVFOR Somalia counter-piracy patrol to protect vessels transiting off the Horn of Africa and the Western Indian Ocean. Both vessels from the French navy’s Jeanne d´Arc 22 Mission participated in Direct Support in Operation ATALANTA.

Still in February 2022, the dominating topic for the Operation has remained the imminent way ahead due to the debates at the UNSC around the extension or non-extension of the UNSC resolution 2608 (2021) on the fight against piracy and armed robbery at sea off the coast of Somalia. Nevertheless, this scenario has not kept Atalanta from performing its duties to the highest extent of its possibilities and means.

The year 2022 began as busy as the previous year had ended, and the future of Operation Atalanta has remained a dominating topic, i.e. the extension or non-extension of the UNSC resolution 2608 (2021) on the fight against piracy and armed robbery at sea off the coast of Somalia beyond the 3rd of March 2022.