Landing the Big One

Landing the Big One

Thursday, April 29, 2010

Somali Pirates: Malta Begins to Do Anti-Piracy

Reported by MSC(HOA) here:
Malta’s first EU NAVFOR operational mission protects World Food Programme (WFP) ship Mustafa-H
29/04/2010 15.21 UTC

This morning 29 of April, the Vessel Protection Detachment (VPD) from Malta was used for the first time in support of EU NAVFOR’s primary mandate.
They embarked on the World food programme (WFP) ship MUSTAFA-H and will provide protection during her transit from Boosaaso to Berbera in northern Somalia.
The 12-man VPD team is normally embarked onboard EU NAVFOR Dutch warship Johan de Witt during its four months anti piracy mission. This task shows the flexibility of the team and the invaluable contribution that Malta is providing to the EU NAVFOR anti piracy operation.
This is Malta`s first military deployment into the operational theatre under the EU Common Security Defence Policy (CSDP). The Maltese detachment has been sourced from C Special Duties Company of the Armed Forces of Malta (AFM) and is a valuable force multiplier in the area of operations.



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