Emphasising secondary tasks

The Bundeswehr has ended its participation in Operation Atalanta. What has been achieved, learnt and changed?

After around 14 years, Germany's military participation in the European Union's first maritime operation came to an end on 30 April: the European Union Naval Force Somalia Operation Atalanta. On the basis of a United Nations Security Council resolution and a decision by the Council of the European Union, the German Bundestag approved German military participation in Atalanta on 19 December 2008, and only three days later a warship, the frigate Karlsruhe, took part. The rapid increase in the number of pirate attacks off the coast of Somalia and the resulting direct threat to humanitarian aid transports and international shipping had also brought the issue to the attention of the global media. Deterring pirates and preventing and combating acts of piracy and armed robbery off the coast of Somalia therefore became the core mission of Atalanta. This included securing the seaborne aid deliveries of the UN World Food Programme (WFP) and the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM, since 1 April 2022 African Union Transition Mission in Somalia, ATMIS).