On Thursday, the Netherlands took over command of Operation Atalanta, the European Union’s contribution to the fight against piracy off the coast of Somalia. The operation has a dual task: protecting shipping and rounding up pirates.

The Dutch frigate HNLMS Evertsen will be playing a dual role over the coming four months. On the one hand it will be escorting ships. This might mean guarding vessels belonging to the United Nations World Food Programme, sailing between Mombassa and the Somali capital Mogadishu. Or accompanying merchant shipping convoys in the Gulf of Aden. Or making a sudden appearance in the waters around the Seychelles.

Vast area
On the other hand, the ship is also the command platform from which Commodore Pieter Bindt and his staff will be managing the whole of Operation Atalanta. The European naval force comprises eight to twelve ships and a number of reconnaissance aircraft. Thanks to the range of communications, it doesn’t matter where the Evertsen is within its operating area, which the commodore says is vast:

“Part of the Red Sea, then a large part of the Indian Ocean, a line down from Oman round the Seychelles, and north of Madagascar. It’s an area about as big as the United States, quite some stretch of ocean.”

Listen to the Newsline interview with Commodore Pieter Bindt:

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Unique cooperation
The European Union is by no means on its own in the fight against Somali pirates. Seven NATO ships are also deployed, five from the Combined Maritime Force – a coalition led by the United States – and also naval vessels from China, India, Iran, Japan, Yemen, Malaysia, Russia, Singapore and South Korea.

Commodore Bindt says the fact that countries like China, Iran, Yemen and Russia are cooperating closely with the EU and NATO is “entirely unique”.

The EU, NATO and the individual countries maintain contact via the force headquarters, says the commodore.

“There is close coordination on who is where and who does what. The headquarters of this first European maritime mission has set up a secure communication system for organisations and countries that want to make use of it, and a lot of information is exchanged.”

Pirates extradited
The ships taking part in Operation Atalanta can pick up pirates and have them put on trial. How and where this happens is not for Commodore Bindt to determine – it’s decided by the public prosecutor’s office of the country that has supplied the naval vessel involved.

“The European Union has also signed an agreement with Kenya making it possible to have suspected pirates tried in Kenya. Up to now 68 pirates have been extradited to the country.”

Commodore Pieter Bindt takes office as EU Force Commander of EU NAVFOR-ATALANTA