NATO to Deploy Anti-Piracy Fleet to Somali Coast
NATO has decided to send a fleet of warships to the coast of Somalia in an effort to deter pirates.
Defense ministers from NATO-member countries who were meeting in Hungary this week have agreed to send a seven-ship force to the region within two weeks.
"Nations agreed that NATO would make use of that presence to do two things: To ensure that the World Food Program ships have the escort they need to deliver their essential food supplies, and more generally to patrol the waters around Somalia to help stop acts of piracy," NATO's chief spokesman James Appathurai said Thursday in Budapest.
The NATO fleet will patrol the same region where a Canadian frigate has been escorting vessels carrying United Nations food shipments.
Defense ministers from NATO-member countries who were meeting in Hungary this week have agreed to send a seven-ship force to the region within two weeks.
"Nations agreed that NATO would make use of that presence to do two things: To ensure that the World Food Program ships have the escort they need to deliver their essential food supplies, and more generally to patrol the waters around Somalia to help stop acts of piracy," NATO's chief spokesman James Appathurai said Thursday in Budapest.
The NATO fleet will patrol the same region where a Canadian frigate has been escorting vessels carrying United Nations food shipments.
