Seychelles-EU Navfor - Anti-piracy intervention capacities put to the test |09 January 2015

Two suspected pirate skiffs are detected in the Seychelles waters. The information is transmitted to the Seychelles Coast Guards and to other foreign and international maritime forces in the Indian Ocean Region.

The Seychelles Coast Guard deploys its patrol ship ‘Etoile’ to the indicated area and at the same time requests help from EU Navfor (European Naval Force Somalia) which is stationed in the region as part of Operation Atlanta. The force is quick to react and ‘Etoile’ is joined by EU Navfor’s flagship, the Italian destroyer ‘Andrea Doria’ on its way to intercept the skiffs. A helicopter takes off from the Italian naval ship, at the same time as a Seychelles Air Force plane from the Seychelles International Airport at Pointe Larue. They soon identify two pirate skiffs, one with two and the other with three suspected pirates on board, as the latter prepare to attack a Seychellois fishing boat. They signal the skiffs to stop but they turn around and attempt to sail away.

Five hundred metres vertically apart, the aircraft and helicopter continue to circle above the skiffs while awaiting the arrival of ‘Etoile’ and ‘Andrea Doria’. The suspected pirates finally agree to surrender and a speed boat is released from each navy ships. They are apprehended by the soldiers and escorted onto the ‘Andrea Doria’.

Part of the destroyer has then been transformed into a floating police station. The suspected pirates are interviewed by a multilingual linguist, photographed, medically examined before being detained on board the ship. They are then handed over to the Seychelles Coast Guard and police. This along with all the exhibits collected as evidence, including fire arms and other equipment.

The above could be the script of a piracy feature film in the like of Captain Philips. It could also be the real life events of a pirate attack in the Indian Ocean.

This time however, it was only a joint exercise between the Seychelles Coast Guard, Seychelles Air Force, Marine Police Unit and the EU Navfor. Its aims were to strengthen cooperation and test interoperability between different partners in anti-piracy operations as well as ascertain the accuracy of procedures in evidence collection.

Other partners in the fight against piracy had joined the EU Navfor Commander Rear Admiral Guido Rando on the bridge of the Andrea Doria and had the opportunity to follow the exercise and be briefed on the operations from there. They included acting Chief Justice Gustave Dodin, Judge Mohan Burhan, prosecutors from the Attorney General’s office and representatives from the police, the regional anti-piracy cell Reflecs 3, EUCAP NESTOR, United Nations Organisation for Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and Indian Ocean Commission (IOC).

At the end of the exercise, the parties were satisfied that the exercise will result in helping improve tactical integration and coordination, finding a common ground for interoperability, and better collecting and handling evidence procedures.

The director of Reflecs 3 Joseph Bibi feels that as a country vulnerable to maritime piracy, Seychelles will benefit from such an exercise.

“The exercise has reinforced the cooperation between the different agencies fighting piracy at sea, including European Union forces and the Seychelles Coast Guard. It will help Seychelles revise its standards and bring them more to international requirements. It reflects the true scenario of an eventual pirate attack even though a real intervention will take more time. We plan to have more such exercises in the future as Seychelles seizes the opportunity of visiting navy vessels to perform them,” he said.

As for the Commanding Officer of the Andrea Doria captain Angelo Virdis, he has warned against complacency in the fight against piracy.

“Do not think that piracy is over. In spite of the statistics which show that its level in the Indian Ocean has reduced to nearly zero in 2014, this is not really the situation. We should not be complacent. If we are, piracy will rise again,” he insisted.

Joint military exercises have surely helped to reduce piracy attacks from more than four hundred cases in 2010 and 2011 to only six in 2014 – the last dating to February of last year – through increase in surveillance and intervention capacity.

For example, the 7,000-tonne Andrea Doria which can have a cruising capacity of 30 knots and is manned by a multinational crew of 240, can while anchored in Port Victoria monitor the movement of any vessel in the Somali Bassin!
The accompanying photographs show scenes from the exercise.