Last week, the European Union agreed to expand its anti-piracy mission to include land-based targets in Somalia. SPIEGEL ONLINE has learned that air attacks up to two kilometers inland will be allowed. But an expansion of the mandate could face obstacles in Berlin, where opposition politicians warn that EU forces could get dragged into fighting on the ground. Until now, the European Union’s Operation Atalanta, which targets pirates off the coast of Somalia, has been restricted to purely maritime operations. But that could soon change, now that the EU has agreed on a controversial expansion of the mission. Last Friday, EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels agreed to expand the operation to include the coastal region. According to information obtained by SPIEGEL ONLINE, the ministers agreed that Atalanta units should be able to target pirates and their infrastructure up to a limit of two kilometers (1.2 miles) inland. If the expansion is approved, it will be the first time that Western forces are allowed to target pirates on the Somali mainland. The expanded Atalanta mandate is aimed mainly at the pirates’ infrastructure, and the use of ground troops has been specifically ruled out. The operations will be limited to air strikes against targets such as storage tanks, boats and radio facilities. Initially, the EU wanted to keep secret the limit for how far forces could penetrate into the country, amid concerns that the pirates could simply shift their facilities further inland. The limit itself was the subject of prolonged debate in Brussels. Military representatives had originally proposed a limit of four kilometers, but this met with considerable resistance from Germany and Spain. In the end, German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle succeeded in arguing for strict limits on the land-based operations.
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