The number of successful pirate attacks off the coast of Somalia has decreased under the protection of the EU anti-piracy mission ATALANTA, says Rear Admiral Thorsten Kähler in an exclusive interview for Hamburg Messe und Congress (HMC) in the run-up to MS&D 2009. The naval operations of the European Union NAVFOR ATALANTA have even succeeded in providing 100% protection for the ships of the UN World Food Programme. Admiral Kähler, who has been Deputy Operation Commander of the ATALANTA programme since June 2009, will report on the latest developments in the ATALANTA mission, in his lecture at the international conference and exhibition "Maritime Security & Defence" (MS&D), to be held at the Hamburg Fair site from 30 September to 2 October 2009. MS&D 2009 brings together security experts from numerous navies and from governments, academia and industry in the Security and Defence Panels. The accompanying trade show gives some 60 companies, shipyards and marine equipment suppliers and institutions a chance to present the latest technologies and products, as needed to secure the international shipping routes and ports from pirate and terrorist attacks, and for crisis management operations by naval forces.
Rear Admiral Kähler concedes that pirate attacks increased in spring this year in the maritime area where the ATALANTA ships are operating, but offsets against that the number of attacks which failed or were repulsed. And emphasises the success of the ATALANTA mission in that respect. “Security in the Gulf of Aden has been improved, firstly by more intensive surveillance of this area for merchant shipping. And secondly, by the fact that more and more merchant vessels are following the rules of conduct for defence against pirate attacks, as worked out by us together with international shipping companies. That gives the naval units operating in this area valuable time to get to the scene of an attack after receiving an emergency call from a merchant ship that has come under threat.” However, he leaves no doubt about the fact that military operations alone will not be enough to contain the problem. “The causes of piracy off the coasts of Somalia are to be found on shore,” says Kähler. “A solution to the problems will require joint civil and military efforts”. That is the same viewpoint as held by Vice Admiral (ret.) Lutz Feldt, Chairman of MS&D, and Rear Admiral Rainer Brinkmann, Director of the German Marine Centre of Excellence for Operations in Confined and Shallow Waters (COE CSW), working in close cooperation with NATO, who will make a presentation at the MS&D conference on problems of mine detection and clearing. Both of them believe that military action against pirates in the seas around the Horn of Africa, currently the most dangerous maritime area, have to be backed by initiatives in the economic, political and diplomatic fields, in order to protect the international shipping routes. Kähler believes that the creation of government structures in Somalia is a vital requirement, because the problems of piracy are a threat not only to the international trading routes, but also to the states bordering on Somalia.
The threat to international shipping by pirates is one of the focal areas of the MS&D conference at the Hamburg Messe site, and will be addressed in particular in the “Security” Panel, chaired by Vice Admiral Lutz Feldt, who was Chief of Staff of the German Navy until 2006 and is now President of the DMI (German Naval Institute).
The conference programme is divided into two parallel panels on the two subject complexes of Security and Defence, placed between two plenary sessions. The Defence Panel is chaired by Rear Admiral Ulrich Otto, with high-ranking speakers from various navies, industrial companies and international maritime institutions such as the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS).
Speakers at the opening plenary session will include Rüdiger Wolf, State Secretary at the German Ministry of Defence, and Rear Admiral Heinrich Lange, Vice Chief of Staff of the German Navy, and high ranking naval officers. For example Rear Admiral Salvatore Ruzittu of the Italian Navy, who will present the security situation in the wider Mediterranean, and Rear Admiral José Antonio Ruesta Botella of the Spanish Navy, who will give an overview of the role of navies in maritime security.
The Security Panel is likely to attract special interest among security experts with a presentation by Israeli Captain Dr. Azriel Rahav, who is a nuclear physicist and CEO of Totem Plus, a company specialising in navigation, software and port security. His subject is the detection of radioactive materials. The issue of security of shipping routes is taken up by a number of speakers. Such as Vice Admiral Anil Chopra, Director General of the Indian Coast Guard, and Rear Admiral K.G. Hussain of the Pakistan Navy, who present the contributions made by their respective countries to security in the Indian Ocean and the Arabian Sea. Other presentations deal with the various anti-piracy and anti-terror missions. For example Commodore Per Bigum Christensen, Royal Danish Navy, explains the role of Combined Task Force 150 (CTF-150); Commodore Konstantinos Mazarakis-Ainian of the Hellenic Navy presents the tasks of the NATO Maritime Interdiction Operational Training Centre on the island of Crete; and Rear Admiral (LH) Veli-Jukka Pennala, Vice Commander-in-Chief of the Finnish Navy, talks about the Sea Surveillance Co-operation Baltic Sea (SUCBAS) project.
The Defence Panel also has highly topical subjects on its agenda. Rear Admiral Dan Cloyd, Staff of the Chief of Naval Operations, U.S. Navy, gives a presentation on the situation in Afghanistan. Top executives of leading shipyards will present the latest designs and technologies for surface and submarine vessels. Other presentations will cover the latest in monitoring and weaponry, and means of protection and defence against chemical, biological and nuclear attacks.
The subjects of presentation are also covered in the accompanying trade show, where some 60 companies, shipyards and marine equipment suppliers present the latest technologies and products in security and defence technology.
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