Djibouti, 03 December 2023 – The Portuguese Commodore Rogério Paulo Figueira Martins de Brito assumes command of the 45th rotation of Force Commander of EUNAVFOR ATALANTA. He takes command of Task Force 465 from Italian Rear Admiral Fabrizio Rutteri who was in command since 17 July 2023. The ceremony, which took place on the Italian destroyer DURAND DE LA PENNE in the Port of Djibouti, was chaired by the EUNAVFOR Operation Commander Vice Admiral Ignacio Villanueva Serrano.
In his words to the outgoing Force Commander, Rear Admiral Rutteri, Vice Admiral Villanueva thanked his leadership and expressed his gratitude to his crew for their commitment to accomplishing the operation mandate with dedication, especially during the last weeks by efficiently tackling different incidents in the Area of Operations. He also congratulated the new Force Commander for his appointment and wished him the best for his Command.
In his first speech as Force Commander, Commodore de Brito said “I assure you my full commitment to lead the Task Force 465 and to achieve its operational objective, pursuing effectiveness in the execution of all tasks assigned”.
The 44th Rotation has completed a successful deployment, strengthening the network with regional state partners in different Key Leader Engagements, Sea Joint Activities and Local Maritime Capacity Building Activities. They have also participated in the alleged piracy incident involving the Iranian-flagged fishing boat “AL-MERAJ 1” off the coast of Somalia that took place in the last weeks.
The ceremony was attended by several international and local civilian and military authorities including the Ambassador of Portugal in Ethiopia and Djibouti, HE. Luísa Fragoso; the Deputy Head of the Delegation of the European Union to Djibouti, Mr Spodaryk; the Commander of the French Forces stationed in Djibouti, Major General Laurent Boite; the Commanding General of the Combined Joint Task Force – Horn of Africa, Major General Jami Shawley; the Commanding Officer of the Japanese Military Base in Djibouti, Colonel Kosuke Suzuki; the Commander of the Djibouti Coast Guard, Colonel Wais Omar Bogoreh and the Commander of the Djibouti Navy, Colonel Ahmed Daher Djama.
The Force Headquarters, under the command of the Operation Headquarters in Rota (Spain), is an embarked headquarters forward deployed to ATALANTA’ s Area of Operation, responsible for the Tactical Command of all EUNAVFOR multinational assets in the area. Its main responsibility is conducting operations at the operational and tactical level, in accordance with the ATALANTA Operation mandate and under the Operation Headquarters’ guidance. During this rotation, the Spanish warship, VICTORIA, will be the Operation ATALANTA flagship.
