On 07 September, in the waters in front of the city of Mogadishu (Somalia), the Italian frigate Virginio Fasan, the flag unit of the European air and naval forces currently deployed in the Horn of Africa in contrast to piracy, has been engaged in activities of the "Local Maritime Capacity Building" (LMCB) with the Somali maritime police forces to provide them with some basic notions on operational procedures used to deal with the threat of piracy and, more generally, the threat of maritime crime.
The operation commander of the operation Atalanta, rear-admiral Fabio Gregori, who has been in command of European forces in the area of operation for over a month, took advantage of the moment to go ashore, in theinternational compound of Mogadishu International Airport where, as part of the so-called "Leader Engagement" activities, he met some of the military representatives of the major international missions engaged in Somalia. Among these is theAfrica Mission in Somalia, European Union Training Mission, European Union Capability , Military Coordination Cell of Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa.
The activity of leader engagement it then continued on September 8 when some of the military representatives were invited on board the flagship operation Atalanta. force commander took the opportunity to make an important point of view on Somalia, showing the European operation from the maritime point of view with the operation Atalanta and sharing with those present the results achieved so far and the expected future objectives.
Among the activities of LMCB that the frigate Fasan carried out, for the benefit of the Somali police forces, “boarding operations” exercises were carried out, ie those activities of control and inspection of merchant traffic through document control and verification of the personnel on board, as well as the load transported.
On this occasion, the navy fusiliers of the marine brigade Saint Mark, embarked on the Unit as a special department for the operation Atalanta, showed the Somali military the methods of approaching in safety to a possible merchant subject to the control and the conduct of the foreseen verifications, both in the case in which the merchant shows to be cooperative, and in the situation in which the same is opposed to the control.
The activities of Local Maritime Capacity Building, as well as those of Leader Engagement, are all closely related to counter-piracy activities, and fully fall within the European mandate of the operation Atalanta which, in addition to the objective of providing direct protection to merchant traffic in transit in the waters of the Horn of Africa, also proposes to favor the development of Somali maritime police forces, enabling them independently to be able to effectively combat maritime crime.
This makes the operation Atalanta a mission which, together with the other European "sister" missions, including EUCAP and in particular EUTM Somalia, which currently involves the Italian military under the command of Brigadier General Pietro Addis of the Italian Army, represents the European effort to contribute to security international of this important region of the globe, having as its primary objective the stabilization and development, in the maritime and internal security field, of the federal state of Somalia.
