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Counter-piracy mission to be extended

By: Dan Lett

Posted: 05/29/2009 9:30 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

Members of HMCS Winnipeg perform hand-to-hand combat training on the flight deck. (SLT MICHAEL MCWHINNIE / CANADIAN FORCES)

ON BOARD HMCS WINNIPEG — The member countries of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization are negotiating to extend and expand the highly successful counter-piracy mission in the Gulf of Aden, the senior officer in charge of Standing NATO Marine Group One said today.

There are also talks underway to clarify once and for all the legal framework for counter-piracy missions so that more suspected pirates can be brought to justice.

Portuguese Rear-Admiral Jose Domingos Pereira da Cunha said it is essential for NATO warships to continue patrolling the pirate-infested waters of the Gulf of Aden to ensure that citizens around the world are not punished by increasing prices for the goods shipped through this critically important trade corridor.

It is hoped a new and larger NATO task force could be in place by July 1, a spokesman for the rear-admiral said. The majority of ships in Standing Marine Group One are expected to complete their current deployment at the end of June.

"We need a solution" in the Gulf of Aden, Pereira da Cunha said from the bridge of HMCS Winnipeg. "It's better that everybody understand... we are here doing a job that is going to stop... the increasing of prices of goods that we need."

On the controversial issue of prosecuting pirates, Pereira da Cunha said the legal mandate of future counter-piracy missions must be honed to ensure the greatest possible deterrent.

NATO warships, including the Winnipeg, have been criticized for not arresting pirate suspects found with automatic weapons, rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) launchers and boarding devices used to hijack merchant vessels. At the moment, however, international law does not permit the arrest and detention of suspects unless a warship witnesses an actual attack in progress.

"It's a problem that has no solution at this time," he said. "The problem only has a solution with a clear mandate on prosecution."

Pereira da Cunha visited HMCS Winnipeg as the Canadian frigate nears the end of its mission with the counter-piracy task force. The Winnipeg has been the most active of the five NATO warships serving in these waters.

In total, Pereira da Cunha said the NATO task force was involved in 10 high-tempo counter-piracy operations, stopping and searching 75 suspected pirates and seizing a large cache of automatic weapons, ammunition and RPGs.

The rear admiral paid special tribute to the Winnipeg for her contribution to a most difficult mission. "She was in the right place at the right moment with the right execution, he said.

Over the past two months, Pereira da Cunha said the task force group allowed 221 high-risk merchant vessels to be escorted through the Gulf of Aden without incident, including two World Food Program ships carrying food aid. High risk ships move very slowly and have very little distance between the waterline and the main deck, making them an easy target for pirates in small, quick skiffs.

HMCS Commander Craig Baines said he was particularly pleased that Pereira da Cunha made special mention of the contribution of Palomino 16, the ship's Sea King helicopter. The Palomino repeatedly identified pirate skiffs and kept them within range until the Winnipeg and its boarding parties could arrive.

"When I go back to shore the big point I'm going to make is how critical the helicopter asset is to the mission," said Baines. "It becomes a real force multiplier."

dan.lett@freepress.mb.ca

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