Interested parties learn more on ongoing counter-piracy efforts |31 May 2016

The audience listening to a presentation onboard the FGS Bayern yesterday

Students from the University of Seychelles, representative of the seamen association, the Seychelles Coast Guard, the police force and other interested parties yesterday afternoon learned more on the EUNAVFOR operations around the coasts of Somalia as well as  ongoing ‘Strategic Communications to Counter Piracy in Somalia’.

The presentation and discussion session was hosted on the FGS Bayern, one of two visiting vessels currently in Port Victoria to coincide with the 19th Plenary Session of the Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia (CGPCS) which Seychelles is hosting starting today (see lead story).

The other vessel is HMAS Darwin.

The visitors were welcomed on the vessel by its commanding officer Markus Brüggemeier.

Thanking Mr Brüggemeier for the warm welcome onboard the vessel, the head of the CGPCS, Raymond St Ange, noted that it is a great honour for Seychelles to welcome the two vessels of two allied nations who have done a lot to counter piracy in the region.

Commander Marco Stocco of the Italian Navy and Chief of Staff onboard the flagship gave the guests an overview of ATALANTA and EUNAVFOR  operations  and mission to counter piracy in the region since 2008 when it started including efforts and measures to protect merchant vessels, support other EU missions, strengthen maritime security.

Liam Webber of M&C SAATCHI, a world service communications agency based in London with some 3000 in-house communication specialists globally division, gave a detailed presentation on the work the agency is doing focusing mainly on behaviour and attitude change on the ground in Somalia to prevent people from turning back to piracy as a source of income.

In a country where lawlessness is the norm and where some 70% of the population have no notion what a police force is and does, Mr Webber says a lot needs to be done to make people accept and respect such a force and convince them that it is there to protect them.

“Going into the communities on the ground in Somalia and talk to people is the only way to change their attitude on piracy so that they do not look at it as something good and a source of income,” he said.

Mr Webber pointed out that the agency has to recruit locals to get the message across and this is done through well tailored FM radio messages and targeting specific audiences at specific times and places.

He said language barrier and access are the main challenges to this type of work but through its mechanisms in place success is monitored and they are satisfied with the impact.

He noted that the agency operates through a network of FM radio channels to send the message across.

Mr Webber went on to stress that even though piracy activities are not being carried out anymore, the threat still lingers as long as there is chaos and lawlessness on the ground and we should not be complacent but endeavour to work with the communities, to empower them in other ways so piracy becomes no longer attractive and tempting to them.