This video report, produced by the European Council for its own website and YouTube channel, gives an official update on the current state of the EU NavFor Atalanta mission, designed to fight piracy in the Gulf of Aden and the Somali Basin.
Since April, the EU’s counter-piracy operation is under Spanish Command. Two Swedish corvettes, the HMS Malmo and HMS Stockholm and a support ship, have recently joined the European naval force, which is based in Djibouti. EU Foreign Ministers this month extended the operating area for Atalanta beyond the Somalia basin and the Gulf of Aden to the Seychelles.
The Swedish corvette HMS Malmo, whose commander is interviewed in the EU Council video, earlier this week fired its guns during its first direct confrontation with pirates who tried to enter a Greek merchant ship. Seven pirates were arrested.
Watch the Swedish navy battle-cam video here, courtesy of the Swedish navy’s own YouTube channel:
