NATO has extended until the end of 2012 its Ocean Shield anti-piracy mission off the Somali coast, alliance spokesman James Appathurai said on Wednesday.
Launched in mid-2009, the new mandate is "based on the assessment that this mission is making a demonstrable contribution to the anti-piracy fight in the Gulf of Aden", he said.
"In 2009, due to the success of the international efforts, including those of NATO, the successes of these (pirate) attacks went down 40 percent below the success rate in 2008, even though the number of attacks was up," he added.
As of Friday, a new fleet — grouping British, Greek, Italian, Turkish and US warships — will join the effort for six months, to ensure no "gap" emerges in the battle-plan.
Ocean Shield is run out of Lisbon, with tactical decisions taken at Northwood, England, which is also home to the European Union's Navfor anti-piracy mission in the same region.
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