Lords question Foreign Office and EU representative on Somali piracy
21 June 2012
The House of Lords EU Sub-Committee on External Affairs questions Alexander Rondos, EU Special Representative for the Horn of Africa and Foreign Office officials as part of their inquiry into Somali piracy and the EU’s Operation Atalanta, which was set up to combat it
- Parliament TV: Combating Somali Piracy: the EU’s Naval Operation Atalanta – Follow-up
- Combating Somali Piracy: The EU's Naval Operation Atalanta
- EU Sub-Committee C - External Affairs
Witnesses
At 9.30am, Thursday 21 June, Committee Room 2A, Palace of Westminster
- Nick Pickard, Head of Security Policy, Foreign and Commonwealth Office
- Nick Kay, Africa Director, Foreign and Commonwealth Office
- Rachel Turner, Director, East and Central Africa, Department for International Development
- Alexander Rondos, European Union Special Representative for the Horn of Africa
The Committee will ask Mr Rondos for his assessment of the current situation in Somalia and the wider Horn of Africa and how effective Operation Atalanta has been in reducing piracy in the region. They will also ask what more can be done to build on those efforts and whether the focus should be on capturing and prosecuting pirates or wider efforts to tackle the economic problems which the Committee identified as a major cause of piracy in their previous report on the subject.
Giving evidence for the Foreign Office will be Nick Pickard, Head of Security Policy and Nick Kay, Africa Director. They will be asked for the government’s take on the situation and whether the London Conference on Somalia in February has proved successful in uniting international efforts to tackle piracy. They will also be asked about the government’s decision to allow armed guards on ships.