Nato anti-piracy ship docks in Mombasa

BY PHILIP MWAKIO

The first of seven ships deployed by Nato to fight piracy in the Indian Ocean off the Somalia coast has docked at the port of Mombasa for replenishment.

Italian destroyer, MM Luigi Durand De La Penne is part of the Nato ships that had been dispatched to guard against piracy off the Somali Coast.

The MM Luigi Durand De La Penne is a 5,000-tone multi-role warship able of air defence, anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare operations for protecting task forces and convoys.

The ship, captained by Mr Bisconti Pierro Fiederico, is equipped with a helicopter deck and a hangar with facilities for two helicopters.

It is part of a flotilla of ships from Italy and the United States of America, Germany, Greece, Turkey and Britain that form a Standing Nato Maritime Group Two (SNMG 2).

Speaking to the media at the Mombasa mayor’s parlour on Tuesday afternoon, Rear Admiral Giovani Gumiero who is the commander of the SNMG 2 said that they were in Mombasa for logistic support.

He said that in the coming weeks, the port of Mombasa would play homage to several of the task force vessels, which will be coming for similar missions.

"We are currently engaged in securing the waterways and escorting UN World Food Programme (WFP) chartered motor vessels carrying urgent food aid to the hungry in Somalia," he said.

He added that they should also be engaged in surveillance against ships transiting the Somali Coast.

Already the ship’s company has escorted a WFP chartered vessel into Mogadishu and another ship escorted a vessel laden with supplies for Burundian peacekeepers in Somalia.