Malta participating in EU Red Sea naval mission with two army personnel
Home Affairs Minister tells parliament that Malta has two army personnel stationed at the operational headquarters of the EU’s Red Sea naval mission to protect cargo ships
Two Maltese military personnel have been participating in the EU’s Red Sea naval mission called Operation Aspides since the end of May, Byron Camilleri told parliament.
The Home Affairs Minister said an officer and a soldier from the Armed Forces of Malta are stationed at the operation’s headquarters in Greece.
In a reply to a parliamentary question by Opposition MP Darren Carabott, the minister said the Maltese contingent did not occupy executive positions.
The EU formally launched EUNAVFOR Aspides at the end of February with the aim of protecting cargo ships in the Red Sea from Houthi militant attacks.
The objective of this defensive maritime security operation is to restore and safeguard freedom of navigation in the Red Sea and the Gulf.
The mission does not carry out attacks on Houthi targets inside Yemen but acts in a purely defensive capacity to protect ships from possible attacks.
Houthi militants have been attacking commercial ships passing through the Baab al-Mandab Strait and the Red Sea since October 2023 in response to Israel’s aggression in Gaza. The attacks have disrupted shipping routes with some cargo vessels taking the longer route around the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa.
Camilleri told parliament that Malta started participating in the EU mission at the end of May after the government obtained the State Advocate’s advice that such participation does not contradict the principal of neutrality as etched in the Constitution.
“The decision to participate was taken because this mission has a direct impact on the Maltese maritime industry,” Camilleri said.
This is not the first time that Maltese military personnel have joined an EU maritime mission in the region. In the past, an army contingent had been embedded on a Dutch warship off the Somali coast to deter piracy.
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