Operation Active Endeavor
Operation Active Endeavor ( OAE ) was a military operation in the Mediterranean under the leadership of NATO . The aim of the operation was to demonstrate NATO solidarity and determination and to help detect and deter terrorist activities in the Mediterranean region. It started in 2001 and ended in October 2016. The successor operation is called the Sea Guardian .
After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 , the North Atlantic Council decided for the first time that the alliance case should come into force under Article 5 of the Washington Treaty . Operation Active Endeavor officially began on October 26, 2001. The main task of this operation is the surveillance of the maritime area in order to record and document civil maritime traffic and the merchant ships participating in it. The recorded data are the basis for preventive measures against terrorist activities and are also used for other naval operations in the Mediterranean region, such as B. used the UNIFIL mission of the German Navy off Lebanon. On February 4, 2003, the mission was expanded. Since then, civilian ships have also been routed through the Strait of Gibraltar in order to secure shipping traffic in this area, which is seen as a possible location for terrorist attacks.
The German Navy has been involved in this mission since November 16, 2001. Usually a German ship of the Standing NATO Maritime Group 1 and 2 (SNMG 1 is the former Standing Naval Force Atlantic , SNMG 2 was Standing Naval Force Mediterranean ) is deployed. Most of these are frigates , but German submarines have also been involved for years. At times, speedboats also operated in the Strait of Gibraltar .
The ships carry to detect the NATO flag at the starboard rah their mast. NATO awards participating soldiers the Article-V-Medal , the Federal Ministry of Defense the German Armed Forces Medal for their participation in the NATO operation Active Endeaveour .
After a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels on May 19, 2016, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced that the operation was planned to be expanded from July 2016 in order to militarily strengthen Operation Sophia of the EU off the Libyan coast.
Politics in Germany
On January 16, 2014, the Bundestag discussed an extension of the contract. Since only an initial discussion took place there, the discussion about an extension (with or without adapting the content of the mission) was transferred to the Defense Committee. There are currently two different points of view. The federal government wants the mandate to continue until the end of the year. However, the operational parameters should firstly be separated from the NATO alliance case and secondly, instead of an active one, an observation mission should be used. Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen and Die Linke demand in their own motions not to extend the mandate any further, because terrorist activities are not uncovered (GREEN) and foreign missions by the Bundeswehr are generally rejected (LINKE). In a vote by the Bundestag on December 17, 2015, the mandate for the Bundeswehr was again extended to July 15, 2016.
Web links
- Website of Operation Active Endeavor NATO (English)
- Information page about Operation Active Endeavor of NATO (German)
- About Operation Active Endeavor of the Bundeswehr
- NATO and the fight against terrorism . Information page of the Federal Foreign Office. March 31, 2014.
- Plenary session of the Bundestag on January 16, 2014
Individual evidence
- ^ Official information from NATO , accessed on August 2, 2018
- ↑ Sophia: EU wants to expand military mission in front of Libya . Spiegel Online, May 19, 2016.
- ↑ Changes to "Active Endeavor". (No longer available online.) In: Current Messages (hib). German Bundestag, January 9, 2014, archived from the original on February 2, 2014 ; accessed on January 27, 2014 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Florian Manthey: Adapted to the reality of operations: Operation Active Endeavor discussed in the Bundestag. Federal Ministry of Defense, January 17, 2014, accessed on January 27, 2014 .
- ^ Bundeswehr deployment in the Mediterranean extended. German Bundestag, December 17, 2015, accessed on March 27, 2016 .
