Sweden to fight pirates in Somalia – the government to commission

Thursday, 05 July 2012
The Swedish government is talking about Sweden’s preparedness to once again send warships to Gulf of Aden to combat the pirates who ravage the area outside the mainly Somali coast.

The government is meeting today in Visby on the island of Gotland and will then decide to give the Swedish Armed Forces commissioned to plan and prepare a new action within the United Nations Operation,  Atalanta. It would then be HMS Carlskrona that could be sent to the Gulf of Aden early next year, according to a report.

The main task of this operation is based on a UN resolution to protect civilian shipping from pirate attacks and protect UN food transports in the area.

Sweden has previously taken part in Operation Atalanta in both 2009 and 2010. Other countries that have participated include Britain, France, Norway and the Netherlands. The Government's decision means that the Swedish warship returns to patrol the dangerous waters off the Somali coast where a large number of attacks by pirates are committed against civilian shipping.
By Scancomark.se Team