Thursday, January 29, 2009
The Swedish contribution to the EU's mission, code-named Operation Atalanta, would consist of two corvettes, one support ship and a security force, the government said in a statement.
Sweden's participation in the mission is intended to begin in the first half of 2009 and last for a maximum of four months.
"Sweden's participation is a response to the UN request for protection and security for the deliveries of food aid to Somalia from the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP). In addition, the operation will help combat the increasing number of acts of piracy off the coast of the country," the Swedish foreign minister Carl Bildt said in the statement.
At present more than 90 percent of WFP aid deliveries are transported to Somalia by sea and an interruption in WFP food aid deliveries would have devastating consequences for the people of Somalia, the Swedish government added.
The EU formally launched its anti-piracy mission off Somalia coast on Dec. 8 last year, the first expeditionary naval operation of the 27-nation bloc.
Source: Xinhua, Jan 29, 2009