Toespraak van minister Hennis-Plasschaert bij de HNLMS Johan de Witt Medal Parade

Toespraak | 19-05-2015

Your Excellencies ,

Ladies and gentlemen,

Captain Luyckx,

Crew members of His Netherlands Majesty Ship Johan de Witt,

We meet today to mark the end of your deployment. You left the Netherlands nearly four months ago, with quite a few challenges in the areas of maintenance and logistics.

But as it looks to me: the ship seems to be in an excellent shape, thanks to your continuing efforts.

Ladies and gentlemen,

First of all, I would like to express my gratitude to the embarked Swedish contingent who took part in the deployment.

The question is: looking back on this deployment, what will stand out the most? That might well be the chocolate sprinkles and hazelnut spread on your sandwiches!

But…and more important: another enduring memory will be your seamless integration with the crew of the Johan de Witt. You fully integrated with the crew and participated in almost every task, from cleaning the decks to suppressing piracy.

With great enthusiasm you took part in many on-board activities.

Your involvement and your empathy was, and is, enormous.

On our King’s Day, you all attended the special ceremony to honour our King and during the service to commemorate the death of two Dutch soldiers in Mali, you joined us in our grief.

Your support is extremely precious to us and we will not forget it.

We do look forward to renewing our cooperation with you in the future.

Piracy still poses a very real threat to shipping. As you all encountered with the two detained dhows in the Echo Five area.

Operations such as ATALANTA remain necessary. And this is why our Armed Forces are performing their duties in the coastal waters of Somalia for the seventh year in a row.

We will keep deploying Dutch naval vessels to fight this problem until the Sea Lines of Communication are safe enough for our merchant vessels to use without protection. And we will keep deploying them as part of a combined and joint effort in a multinational framework.

Together we stand strong. Together we can share the burden. And together we are more than the sum of our parts. I am convinced that cooperation is the way forward and the way to defeat piracy.

The Swedish-Netherlands cooperation is a case in point. Thank you so much for your commitment and cooperation!

Crew members of Johan de Witt,

On March 13, you carried out an extraordinary operation. You brought two vehicles ashore at the beach near Mogadishu.

Sister mission EUCAP Nestor asked for these patrol cars, to be used by the Somali coast guard.

This may sound simple, but it wasn’t.

On earlier occasions, various landing crafts had sustained serious damage on the rocky shoreline.

First, you mapped out the beach in detail. Then a plan was conceived to land the vehicles using forklift trucks.

As you only had a 30-minute window at your disposal to carry out the operation, the plan was timed down to the minute.

You completed your mission successfully!

With that, you have proven yourself capable of putting people or equipment ashore anywhere along the coast of Somalia at any given moment.

A milestone.

For it was the first time that a unit falling under EU ATALANTA made use of its broader mandate.

The mandate authorising you to operate on land in certain situations.

Piracy at sea has been largely brought under control, but will continue to be a threat as long as the “real” problem is not solved.

Ánd we all know that the solution lies on land. The solution lies in security and stability in Somalia itself. The solution lies in offering the population the prospect of a worthy existence. So that people are no longer tempted to resort to piracy.

Now, this is the ‘next level’ of counterpiracy. Combating piracy and helping to build stability and independence for Somalia and its neighbouring countries. In other words: the other EU missions in this region are as important.

Crew members of Johan de Witt,

Your tasks were many, complex and highly diverse.

Even though you did not detain any pirates over the past months, you continued to deter and suppress them. You conducted numerous patrols along the coast of Somalia. You carried out 18 friendly approaches. The combined Dutch and Swedish Forward Operation Base was deployed in multiple occasions.

Dutch and Swedish helicopters clocked up more than 240 hours in ISR sorties.

The information collected this way was of great value to the Defence Intelligence and Security Service and Force Headquarters (FHQ).

During the visit to Berbera you made an important contribution to training the coastguard of Somaliland. And you hosted a major Key Leader Engagement together with your sister mission EUCAP Nestor.

With professionals such as yourselves in the area, pirates will think twice before attacking a merchant vessel. This leaves one conclusion, and one I fully endorse: you did an outstanding job on your watch!!

These missions have to be performed by well-trained armed forces. Forces that cannot be fooled around with. Forces like you, standing before me today.

You have suppressed piracy as a member of a unique team.

A unique team composed of personnel of the Swedish Armed Forces and the Netherlands Armed Forces. And even one sailor from the United States Army!

You patrolled the area of operations, maintained contact with the local population, contributed to nation-building and information gathering and in that way you secured the area and made it safe for shipping.

Above all that, you supported the embarked Force Head Quarters of the EU Naval Force Commander in the areas of communications, operational advice and logistical assistance.

You were always alert, prepared and ready to act!

Aangetreden militairen,

Over ruim twee weken komt u aan in Den Helder. Een moment om naar uit te kijken.

Ik besef goed dat deze missie ook van het thuisfront veel gevraagd heeft. Normaal gesproken spreek ik dan ook een woord van dank uit. Vandaag zijn zij er echter niet bij. Graag wil ik u vragen ‘die dank ‘ bij thuiskomt – mede namens mij – luid en duidelijk kenbaar te maken. Wel heb ik alvast een boodschap meegenomen van Bart en Sem, de zoons van Korporaal van de Mariniers Melvin Bax.

En ik weet eigenlijk heel zeker dat vele andere kinderen en/of familieleden berichten van soortgelijke strekking zouden willen afgeven.

Bart en Sem schrijven het volgende:

'Onze papa moest heel lang varen met de grote boot. Hij ging piraten vangen in Somalië.

Het is stom dat hij zo lang weg is, en soms moeten we ook huilen. Maar mama heeft voor ons een aftelkalender gemaakt, zodat we elke ochtend een nachtje weg kunnen strepen. We moesten wel 121 nachtjes slapen. Papa heeft whatsapp, dus we mogen op mama haar telefoon berichtjes sturen naar papa. Dat is leuk! Nu zijn we er wel klaar mee, want het duurt heel lang. We zijn blij dat hij bijna thuis is. Dan kunnen we weer voetballen en stoeien. I love you pap! Kus van Bart en Sem'

Met andere woorden: het ongeduld groeit. Dat zal bij u niet anders zijn. Het is goed dat u weer bijna thuis bent.

Crew members of Johan de Witt,

It is an honour for me to be able to decorate you with the Peace Operations Commemorative Medal, as a token of gratitude for your service. My aide-de camp will now read out the decree on the decoration.