Seychelles Anti-Piracy Exercise
On Thursday 8 January, a counter-piracy exercise was carried out jointly by the Seychelles Coast Guard, Air Force and Police together with the EU Naval Force Somalia – Operation Atalanta-, and the EU’s civilian maritime security capacity building Mission, EUCAP Nestor. The purpose of the exercise was twofold; firstly, to practice cooperation between the Coast Guard, Air Force, the Police and EUNAVFOR Atalanta a joint counter-piracy operation, and secondly to test procedures and routines linked to effective processing of suspected pirates and evidence handling at sea.
EU NAVFOR Flagship Visits Madagsacar
The EU Naval Force (EU NAVFOR) Flagship, ITS Andrea Doria, paid a port visit to Madagascar from December 15-19, berthing for the first time in the bay of Antsiranana. On Monday, December 15, Rear Admiral Guido Rando and the Commanding Officer of ITS Andrea Doria, Captain Angelo Virdis were welcomed by the Chief of the Madagascan Armed Forces and other senior officials, who expressed their gratitude and appreciation for the success of the EU Naval Force’s counter-piracy mission, Operation Atalanta, and its continuous effort to defeat piracy off the East Coast of Africa.
Portuguese Take Command of EU NAVFOR Counter Piracy
On April 14, in a ceremony held at the Commercial Port of Djibouti, Portuguese Commodore Alberto Correia took over the command of Task Force 465 (TF 465) as the new European Union Naval Force Headquarters – Operation ATALANTA Force Commander. Commodore Correia takes over the duty from his predecessor, Spanish Rear Admiral Juan Rodriguez. During the handover, presided over by EU NAVFOR Deputy Commander, Rear Admiral Guido Rando, Commodore Correia congratulated Rear Admiral Rodriguez for the results achieved during his command and thanked him for his outstanding efforts. He emphasized that ”The mission priorities given to TF 465 are absolutely clear to me.
EU NAVFOR New Deputy Ops Commander
On 13 January 2011, Rear Admiral Thomas J. Ernst (German Navy) handed over the responsibility of Deputy Operation Commander of the European Union Naval Force Somalia, Operation ATALANTA to Rear Admiral Guido Rando (Italian Navy). The handover was conducted in the Operation Headquarters in Northwood, near London. Rear Admiral Ernst, who joined the operation in June 2010, has played an important part in the continued success of EU NAVFOR and the execution of the Operation ATALANTA mission.
