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In the Horn of Africa, pirates hijack ships time and again in order to extort ransom for the crew, ship or cargo.

The pirates are thereby seriously impairing the security of international sea and trade routes and even threatening convoys of the World Food Program.

An operation by the European Union is to provide protection, prevent piracy at sea and ensure safe passage for shipping on the main trade routes off the coast of Somalia.

According to WELT information, however, confidential information given to the Federal Government by several defense politicians in the Bundestag currently raises the question of the future of the ongoing anti-piracy operation, in which the Bundeswehr is also involved.

Operation "Atalanta" has existed since the end of 2008 under a mandate from the European Union.

The German part of the mission is up to 400 soldiers.

A total of 72 of them are currently planned to be deployed.

How the mission will continue from a German perspective is currently uncertain.

Because internal plans of the EU provide for the future expansion and further development of the mandate: Then piracy would no longer be fought alone, but the deployment should also implement the UN arms embargo against Somalia and at the same time take action against drug smuggling.

In addition, maritime situation reports are to be created.

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For this, the political mandate for the German part of the mission would have to be adjusted.

However, the federal government apparently does not want to deal with this issue until spring.

For an adjustment, however, it is the decisive point, because mandate texts for foreign deployments of the Bundeswehr are decided by the cabinet and only then go to the Bundestag to be voted on.

If this step is missing, no mandate can be adjusted.

According to the schedule, however, “Atalanta” will only be voted on again before the end of May 2021.

In the Horn of Africa, pirates hijacked ships to extort ransom for the crew, ship and cargo.

This can seriously affect the security of trade routes

Source: eunavfor

This is exactly what is causing displeasure among defense politicians.

Because de facto the adjustments made by the EU during the interim months lead to the unfortunate situation that soldiers can basically no longer be fully involved in the operation - at least not for tasks that have to do with the new EU plans.

German staff officers, for example, could no longer attend all meetings.

That would also lead to the question of how useful and effective German participation would still be.

For FDP defense politician Alexander Müller it is a failure of the federal government not to deal with the new version of German deployment plans within the framework of the EU mission at an earlier stage.

“The mandate would have to be adjusted and extended quickly, but the federal government is taking its time.” From Müller's point of view, the adjustment could be carried out at the beginning of the year in government and parliament without special meetings.

“The government couldn't explain to us why they take more than three months.” After all, it is in Germany's interest to participate, and the process must be carried out quickly out of respect for the soldiers.

Bottleneck in maritime patrols

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On the other hand, the revision of the EU mandate will initially take time, and the core of the mission is to remain.

Tobias Lindner, defense expert for the Greens, said: "In a mission that has now lasted more than ten years, you have to talk about the interim balance and the medium-term perspective." Type P-3C Orion are currently too few or are also needed in other missions.

"This is where the scarcity of resources is now also reflected in the Bundeswehr's missions abroad."

In fact, according to WELT information, the last aircraft of this type to be used at “Atalanta” was ordered back to Germany at the beginning of December.

Because of the monsoons, the maritime patrols are only used twice a year at certain times.

You shouldn't return now, however.

The latest headlines was that the wings and electronics worth more than 350 million euros had been replaced - but the machines will still fail from 2025.

A skill gap could even persist for years.

Questions of mandate clarity

With the participation of the maritime mission association to combat piracy off the coast of Somalia, German forces have so far been allowed to take action against logistical facilities of pirates on the beach up to a depth of no more than 2000 meters.

However, they are not used on the ground for this purpose.

Germany also participates through a support element in Djibouti: This operates the logistical base for the ships in the Horn of Africa.

Since the first mandate was issued, the threat of piracy off the coast has decreased significantly, which is why the mandate cap has been gradually reduced.

According to the EU plans, the mandate area and the Strait of Hormuz as well as parts of the Red Sea could soon be expanded.

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The quick clarification of all open mandate questions on the German side does not seem to be just a theoretical problem, but rather important for the fundamental clarity of the mandate.

Defense experts say that divergent international and national missions run the risk of creating uncertainty - in the worst case, gaps in mission coverage.

"The aim of the operation to reduce piracy to a tolerable level was impressively achieved," said a spokeswoman for the Ministry of Defense.

The threat situation is changing.

The deployment mandate of the Bundeswehr does not currently cover the new tasks, "so that a national reservation must be made for the German soldiers in order to be able to continue to act legally compliant with the current national mandate." do not participate.

It has not yet been determined when this could change through a referral to the federal government.

When asked, a government spokesman did not provide any information about the work of the cabinet.

The European Council will deal with the new planning as soon as possible.