During the month of October, for about twenty days, the presence of Nave Virginio Fasan in the waters of the Horn of Africa it was characterized by the "Aeolus" operation, a particular activity carried out by the European naval forces of EUNAVFOR Somalia which saw the same focus on the coasts northeast of Mogadishu.
The main purpose of the operation was to act as a deterrent against piracy, showing the presence of the three ships of the "Task Force 465" device under the coast: Ship Virginio Fasan (Italian Navy), Ship Rotterdam (Dutch Navy) and Ship Thunderbolt (Spanish Navy). In particular, control activities were carried out on boats typical of this part of the Indian Ocean, generally used for fishing, but often also as pirate vehicles for trafficking in men, drugs or weapons.
The naval forces of Atalanta they also invited on board a representative of the local community of Hobiyo, a citizen of the Galmudug region, including the mayor, the doctor and young people taught in order to inform the population about the European commitment in Somalia and thus favoring the acceptance of presence of foreign military personnel.
Finally, another goal pursued by "Aeolus" was to provide training to the nascent Somali maritime police force, the Coast Guard in the first place. The European sailors, in fact, have put at the disposal of the Somalis their professionalism by providing notions on the fight against crime at sea: from the conduct of minor vehicles to the practical tests of Basic Life Support (BLS), focusing in particular on the procedures for the control of merchant traffic and those for intervening against an improvised bomb threat (IED).
