The Chinese PLA(Navy) warship MA’ANSHAN (FFG525) has today completed the first port-to-port escort of a World Food Programme (WFP) cargo ship into Somalia through the Gulf of Aden.
The M/V DREAM was carrying a cargo of 5,900 tonnes of food-aid which included maize and oil and had previously unloaded part of her cargo in Berbera before being escorted along the northern Somali coastline to Bosasso. In March, the Chinese warship had been part of a coordinated escort with EU NAVFOR warships which had developed mutual understanding and confidence building with a daily exchange of information for escorting merchant vessels carrying WFP aid.
As part of the coalition of warships from many nations currently deployed into the region to protect merchant shipping from piracy, the MA’ANSHAN is part of a three ship PLA(Navy) deployment designated Task Force 526. With the threat of famine in the Horn of Africa following two years of drought, the delivery of food aid is essential and made possible with the continued presence of a number of warships and co-ordination between the different navies operating in the Indian Ocean is of paramount importance in order to increase the overall effectiveness of the deployed naval forces.
EU NAVFOR Somalia Operation ATALANTA’s main tasks are to escort merchant vessels carrying humanitarian aid of the World Food Program (WFP) and vessels of African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), to protect vulnerable vessels in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean and to deter and disrupt piracy. EU NAVFOR also monitors fishing activity off the coast of Somalia”