Navy escorts food aid ships into Somalia
10 Feb 09
Royal Navy frigate HMS Northumberland has completed the first large multi-ship escort of Operation ATALANTA, the EU-led counter-piracy naval operation, spending ten days ensuring the safety of merchant vessels carrying humanitarian aid along the Somali coastline.
A gunner watches over the shipping lanes off the Somali coast from HMS Northumberland
[Picture: Royal Navy]
HMS Northumberland left the port of Mombasa in Kenya on 26 January 2009 with the Motor Vessels (MVs) Sea King, Victoria, Ryong Gang II, and Kwan Mo Bong. The ships then began a journey of over 1,000 miles (1,600km) up the coast of Somalia with the ever present threat of piracy.
The MV Sea King was the first to be safely escorted into the port of Mogadishu in the south of Somalia. The remaining vessels then continued on the much longer journey round the horn of Africa and into the northern ports of Bossassoo and Berbera.
For the higher risk areas, as the merchant vessels came close to port, HMS Northumberland, with her detachment of Royal Marines, was on high alert. The ship remained ready for any hostile action but fortunately the handover to Somali and World Food Programme security forces went smoothly and without incident.
The merchant vessels were carrying cargoes of food essential to the relief of the humanitarian situation in Somalia.
The ship's Commanding Officer, Commander Martin Simpson, said:
"This has been the first large multi-ship escort task during Operation ATALANTA and I am pleased to say that, like our previous escort missions, this one was successful and without incident. We remain committed to our humanitarian and security mission and the benefit it brings to the people of Somalia in their time of need."
Sailors keep watch for pirate vessels off the coast of Bossassoo, Somalia, from HMS Northumberland
[Picture: Royal Navy]
Since commencing her EU mission, HMS Northumberland has safely escorted a total of 43,743.92 tonnes of assorted relief food, carried on six vessels over three different voyages. According to the World Food Programme, the above quantity of food will feed 2,550,000 people for a month.
The ship has been part of the European Union Operation ATALANTA since early December and has completed a number of World Food Programme escort missions into Mogadishu.
Op ATALANTA is the European Union's first naval task force, and it has been assembled to ensure the protection of vessels of the World Food Programme delivering food aid to displaced persons in Somalia as well as protection to other vulnerable shipping off Somalia, and to provide deterrence to acts of piracy by presence and surveillance.
