The Holistic EU Coordination of Maritime Engagement in Somalia

Brussels, Belgium (HAN) December 23, 2020. Regional Maritime security and capacity building engagement for Somalia and Somaliland. In Somalia The Iris Maritime security expert, Mr. Chris Reynolds will continue as our head of EUcap mission in Somalia and Somaliland.
The Council prolonged the mandates of its two Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) missions in Somalia and Operation ATALANTA. The mandate of EUCAP Somalia, the EU’s civilian capacity-building mission, EUTM Somalia, the EU’s military training mission, and Operation ATALANTA, the EU’s executive military maritime operation, will now run until 31 December 2022.
EUCAP was launched in 2012 with the objective to improve Somali maritime security and the coast of Somalia and Somaliland
The EU decision was taken in the context of the holistic and coordinated strategic review of CSDP engagement in Somalia and the Horn of Africa, with the aim to consolidate and strengthen the EU’s response to evolving security context and enhance its role as a security provider.

Capitalizing on the successes of suppressing piracy off the coast of Somalia, the mandate of Operation ATALANTA was expanded to some secondary executive tasks of countering the trafficking of weapons and narcotic drugs, and non-executive tasks of monitoring illegal activities at sea. With this mandate, Operation ATALANTA will contribute to the implementation of the UN arms embargo on Somalia and will support the ongoing fight against Al-Shabaab and its funding streams. These adjustments also complement ATALANTA’s core effort to deter, prevent and repress piracy and armed robbery at sea off the coast of Somalia, in order to ensure the freedom of navigation and the protection of the World Food Programme and other vulnerable shipping to Somalia. The expansion of Operation’s tasks and its geographical scope allows the EU to further build the wider regional maritime security architecture stretching now from the Red Sea through Bab-el- Mandeb to the Western Indian Ocean (Somali peninsula or Somali waters).


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Geeska Afrika Online (1985-2020) Journal Information: The Horn of African (Geeska Afrika Online) Perspective presents critical analysis of the global, regional, and transnational issues affecting the Horn of African countries, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Djibouti, Uganda, Sudan and South-Sudan. The Geeska Afrika Online journal brings cogent, thought-provoking examination of the significant developments in the Horn of Africa and east Africa and promotes a healthy exchange of ideas among scholars, students, and policymakers in an IGAD’s regional Security Watch platforms since 1985.


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