Atalanta (EUNAVFOR Operation)

The European Union’s first naval mission, EUNAVFOR Operation Atalanta, launched 8 December 2008 under Council Joint Action 2008/851/CFSP to counter piracy off Somalia and the Horn of Africa. Its core tasks are protecting World Food Programme and African Union mission shipping, deterring and disrupting piracy in the Somali Basin and Gulf of Aden, and monitoring the UN arms embargo on Somalia. It runs MSCHOA and the wider Maritime Security Centre, coordinates through SHADE, and remains active with a mandate extended by successive EU Council decisions.