Textbook of Maritime Medicine

The nternational community has made several attempts to deal with the threat of piracy around Somalia and has responded by deploying warships to the Gulf of Aden:

• Somalia has been continuously on the agenda of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) and has passed resolutions on piracy in the Horn of Africa[1].
• Combined Task Force 151 (CTF-151), in operation since January 2009, was established by Coalition of Maritime Forces with the only mission of conducting anti-piracy operations in the Gulf of Aden and the waters off the Somali coast in the Indian Ocean; a role that had previously been carried out by CTF-150, which goes on performing counterterrorism and other maritime security operations as it has done since 2001-2002. In August 2008, CTF 150 and partner forces agreed the establishment of a Maritime Security Patrol Area (MSPA) in the Gulf of Aden to serve as a dedicated, more secure transit zone for merchant vessels with the goal of lowering the success rate of Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden transit zone.
• Other countries, outstandingly Russia, China and India have deployed naval forces to conduct anti-piracy operations in the region. 
• The NATO force named “Operation Allied Protector”, an anti-piracy mission, was launched in March 2009 with the objective of “deter, defend against and disrupt pirate activities” as they sail the region.
• The European Union NAVFOR named “ Operation ATALANTA”, its first naval operation task group deployed[2] under the framework of the European Security and Defence Policy in operation since December 2008;  and according to the European Union Council Secretariat, has had the task to provide protection for WFP vessels and merchant vessels (a role had previously been carried out by CTF-150), and it is authorized to “employ the necessary measures, including the use of force, to deter, prevent and intervene in order to bring to an end acts of piracy and armed robbery which may be committed in the areas where they are present”. EU NAVFOR has also established an online centre known as Maritime Security Centre-Horn of Africa (MSC-HOA) for transiting ships to record their ships’ movements voluntarily and to receive updated threat information, detailing recent trends in pirate attacks and making recommendations to vessels transiting regional waters.
• Code of Conduct concerning the Repression of Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in the western Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden. This Code was adopted in January 2009 among representatives of 17 regional governments in an IMO-sponsored meeting in Djibouti. There are three regional facilities and a regional maritime information centre in Yemen which supports the information shared by the partners of the agreement.

Among CTF-151, EU Operation ATALANTA and NATO Operation Allied Protector, almost 50 warships are currently patrolling in the region.

[1] See Resolutions 1816 (June 2008), 1838 (October 2008) and 1851 (December 2008).

[2] According to the European Union, the force consists of twenty ships and over 1,500 personnel. Greece, France, Spain, Germany and Italy have contributed with forces and personnel to the operation. Other EU member states are expected to contribute later.