NATO's anti-piracy initiative flopped

(B2) A "flop"! There is no other word. Presented as imminent in several media, the launch of an anti-piracy operation by NATO seems much more difficult than announced

NATO Secretary General, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer at the opening of the Conference of Defense Ministers of the Alliance, Thursday (11 June), wanted to be optimistic: " Ministers took stock of our successful efforts to date and discussed the scope of NATO's possible longer-term involvement in counter-piracy " did he declare. He remembered the outcome of the first generation conference held at SHAPE the day before. One " complete failure » according to an expert on the subject. Despite the presence of the 28 members of the Alliance as well as third countries (Australia, Korea, Russia, etc.), the observation was clear: there are few forces available for NATO.

SNMGs in a placebo operation

Consequence: NATO will continue to use the passage of its maritime groups (SNMG 1 or 2) to... simulate an operation. All the specialists in the matter know, indeed, pertinently that the operations Allied Provider et Allied Protector are not, as such, a real, structured, permanent operation. Especially since some ships - like the Germans - leave the SNMG as soon as they are off Somalia to come under EU command - a strict mandate from the Bundestag obliges -.

Capacity but also legal problem

This is not the first time that the Alliance has tried to get its hands on the maritime anti-piracy operation. Until the Budapest summit, concomitantly with the EU's "Atalanta" operation, NATO was trying to set up its own operation, or even to rob the EU of leadership. But NATO suffers from a capacity problem and also from a clear legal problem. It still does not have a legal framework for intervention against pirates or an agreement with Kenya like the EU, the USA or the United Kingdom. Consequence: even if its presence makes it possible to reinforce the means 'in the area' - for the escort of WFP ships or merchant ships -; it inevitably leads, in the event of an intervention against the pirates, to their... liberation (after disarmament).

A single lawsuit

In the regularly updated report, I have in fact noted only one delivery of pirates to justice - in Kenya thanks to the agreement signed, on a bilateral basis, by the British. " The signing of such a framework is not an absolute precondition to the operation. But she would be a great help explained in Brussels the secretary general of
NATO, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer.