Non-Subscriber ExtractInterview: Commander Johnny Ley, Commanding Officer, HMS Cornwall |
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By Gerrard Cowan
23 October 2009
Commander Johnny Ley (UK Royal Navy)
NATO has succeeded in "disrupting and deterring" piracy in the Gulf of Aden, according to Commander Johnny Ley, the commanding officer of the UK Royal Navy Type 22 frigate HMS Cornwall; but the problem can only be eradicated on the land, through building the military and political institutions of Somalia.
Cornwall is the flagship of Standing NATO Maritime Group 2, which commenced Operation 'Ocean Shield' off Somalia on 17 August. While it is a continuation of NATO's first counter-piracy mission, Operation 'Allied Protector', there is now a different emphasis: regional engagement and capacity-building. Cdr Ley and his NATO superiors believe that piracy will not be stopped until strong Somali authorities are capable of patrolling their own waters and tackling the root of the problem ashore.
"I was in no doubt whatsoever that it was a problem that we could tackle, but I was also in no doubt that we weren't going to defeat it. We would disrupt it and deter it, and that's what we've done, and effectively. However, unless it's dealt with at source it's not going to go away," he says.
The efforts of the three multinational naval operations ('Ocean Shield', the EU's Operation 'Atalanta' and the US-led Combined Task Force 151) and the contribution made by warships deployed by individual nations have had an appreciable impact on piracy in the area. While the number of attacks across the region have increased, successful hijackings are less frequent.