While the Federal Government of Somalia (FGS) agreed in early December to a technical extension of UN Security Council Resolution 2554 (2020) on piracy and armed robbery at sea off the coast of Somalia for only three months, rather than the previous 12 months, the EU is considering alternatives for its Operation Atalanta should the mandate not be renewed.
In a document obtained by EUROPE and dated 5 January, the European External Action Service (EEAS) explains that without a new resolution, Atalanta would no longer have a legal basis to combat armed robbery in Somalia’s territorial waters or on its territory, nor would it be covered by the UN Security Council resolution to combat piracy off the coast of Somalia, the document says.
The EEAS therefore believes that priority should be given to the renewal of the resolution. In its view, contacts with the Somali government should be strengthened and other states should be made aware to increase pressure on Somalia. “In future contacts with the FGS, the EU should, as far as possible, use as political leverage its assistance to Somalia, notably EUTM Somalia and EUCAP Somalia, as well as measures to support the Somali National Armed Forces in the framework of the European Peace Facility and wider cooperation support”, the diplomatic service says.
The EEAS also considers that it would be possible to continue the operation without a UN resolution, following other international texts, but that this would require an adaptation of the mandate in the short term.
To combat piracy, the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea allows states to seize ships and arrest suspected pirates on the high seas and authorises the flag state of the arresting ship to prosecute.
The Security Council resolution on the arms embargo will provide Atalanta with the necessary framework to ensure the strict enforcement of the arms embargo on Somalia in its territorial waters and on the high seas off its coast, on vessels travelling to or from Somalia.
In addition, the operation will carry out its secondary executive task of combating drug trafficking off the coast of Somalia within the framework of the United Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances of 20 December 1988.
Atalanta could also contribute, as a secondary non-executive task, to the EU’s integrated approach in the Horn of Africa and the region and to relevant activities of the international community addressing the root causes of piracy and its networks. It could also work in the region to combat piracy off the coast of Somalia, outside territorial waters.
The operation could monitor, as a secondary non-executive task, drug trafficking, arms trafficking, illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing and the illegal charcoal trade off the Somali coast. Finally, it could support the regional maritime security architecture and cooperate with regional actors and missions.
The EU could also consider a bilateral agreement with the Somali government to allow the operation to operate in Somali territorial waters and possibly on land. “Considering an agreement with the FGS on certain executive tasks to be carried out by the operation would be a precedent for a CSDP mission/operation”, the document says. It remains to be seen whether the opening of negotiations on such an agreement can be done in accordance with the EU’s principle of decision-making autonomy, the EEAS warns, pointing out that it also has doubts about the ability of the Somali authorities to conclude the necessary agreement in a few months, adding that the Somali government’s demands in this context are unclear. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)