Operation Atalanta

Operation Atalanta is the European Union’s naval mission off the Horn of Africa, launched in December 2008 as the EU’s first maritime operation under EUNAVFOR. Its core tasks are deterring and disrupting piracy and armed robbery off Somalia, protecting World Food Programme shipments and other vulnerable traffic, and monitoring arms and narcotics flows. It runs the Maritime Security Centre Horn of Africa for merchant-vessel liaison and coordinates with CMF and NATO through SHADE.