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German Relay in the Mediterranean. The Slovaks take over from the Lithuanians for the boarding

Relay between the two ships in the port of Augusta (credit: German Navy)

(B2) The German frigate "Mecklenburg-Vorpommern" (F-218) took over from the support ship "Rhein" (A-1513) deployed in the central Mediterranean as part of the European Operation Sophia (EUNAVFOR Med), last Wednesday (August 16).

Second deployment in the Mediterranean

A relay ensured in the Sicilian port of Augusta between the two commanders, the captain of corvette Marco Reinisch transmitting his instructions to his successor, the captain of frigate Christian Schultze. For the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, this is the second deployment in the Mediterranean. And he said to himself, happy to be able to make another contribution to Operation EUNAVFOR MED Sophia. " The crew is well trained, has last mission experience and is highly motivated. »

The Slovaks replace the Lithuanians for the boarding

On board of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, it is a Slovak boarding team which takes over from the Lithuanian boarding team which was on board the Rhein (Read: Slovaks in the Mediterranean). European cooperation hailed as " copy by the Commander of Maritime Operations of the Bundeswehr, Captain Christoph Mecke. NB: this cooperation goes far beyond operational utility or military symbolism and which, for Germany, takes on a political dynamic, Berlin having a spirit of integration of the various European forces.

2100 people recovered from the Rhein

For the Rhine, it's the return home after more than five months of absence; he had left Kiel, his home port, on 21 March. Since its engagement in early April, with its last voyage carrying 919 people on board, the "Rhine" allowed to " save a total of 2100 people in distress “, indicates the German navy (1). It also carried out 71 searches, by radio, for suspicious vessels (including arms trafficking)

Four vessel visits, one of which resulted in seizures

The boarding team, made up of Lithuanian and German soldiers, was also able to visit (with the captain's authorization) four ships. In one case, it was found a considerable amount of arms and ammunition. These were then secured and handed over to the Italian Navy. (also read: Weapons aboard a Libyan ship. A first entry for Sophia)

Comment: One can notice the use of the term “considerable” or “innumerable” (erhebliche or unzählige) contrasting sharply with the official terminology used by the EUNAVFOR Med operation, which preferred to speak of “several types” of weapons seized, the tendency often being to reduce the number of weapons seized. It was, in fact, politically embarrassing for the Italian commander of the operation, to thus reveal the traffic of the brigades of Misrata, allied to the power of Tripoli, while Rome is doing everything to consolidate the power of Tripoli.

Berlin, and especially Paris, had also shown some dissatisfaction with the suspected laxity of the Italian-European chain of command – from the force commander to the operation commander via the High Representative of the Union , all of them are of Italian nationality – with regard to this arms traffic which had long been 'covered up', invoking the principle of necessary 'public' or 'self-defense' ships.

(Nicolas Gros-Verheyde)

(1) In total, since its engagement in May 2015, the German Navy has ensured, or contributed to, the rescue of 21.200 people.

Nicolas Gros Verheyde

Chief editor of the B2 site. Graduated in European law from the University of Paris I Pantheon Sorbonne and listener to the 65th session of the IHEDN (Institut des Hautes Etudes de la Défense Nationale. Journalist since 1989, founded B2 - Bruxelles2 in 2008. EU/NATO correspondent in Brussels for Sud-Ouest (previously West-France and France-Soir).

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