An Cosantóir

14 | the armed forces of malta THE ARMED FORCES OF MALTA BY COLONEL DAVID P ATTARD, DEPUTY COMMANDER ARMED FORCES OF MALTA & HEAD OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS/CSDP BRANCH WITH WESLEY BOURKE PHOTOGRAPHS BY LANCE BOMBARDIER JUSTIN GATT/AFM PRESS OFFICE Colonel Attard with Wesley Bourke T he Armed Forces of Malta (AFM), with a strength of just under 2,000 men and women, comprises a HQ, three land units, a Maritime Squadron and an Air Wing. Malta is a neutral country and for its first three decades the AFM were rather insular in homeland defence and security. However, being neutral does not mean Malta is neutralised and we are currently participat- ing in EU and UN missions overseas. Malta, although not a member of NATO, does participate in NATO's Partnership for Peace (PfP) programme and the Five-plus- Five defence initiative, which brings together five neutral southern Mediterranean and five neutral North African states to discuss military and security issues. Malta, being an island nation in the middle of the Mediterranean's major sea lines of communications and adjacent to North Africa, has a great interest in maintaining the peace, security and stability of the region. Malta has followed the situation in Libya with interest and has contributed in its own way to humanitarian operations in that country, especially when Misrata was under siege. We will continue to contribute to the redevelopment of Libya as we consider it an important regional partner and we look forward to a stable and democratic Libya. Malta is prepared to support EU initiatives in Libya. For example, we have nominated experts in security sector reform, should the Libyan government request such assistance An Cosantóir November 2011 from the EU, and we look forward to building military-to-military co-operation to the mutual benefit of the two countries and the region. Following Malta's accession into the EU, the AFM began looking outwards with a desire to contribute to international peace and security. This started in 2000 when Malta pledged a platoon and a national HQ element for a year as part of the EU's military headline goals. We have built on this and today we are contributing troops in support of EUFOR BiH, EUFOR Atalanta, EU Training Mission (Somalia), EU Monitoring Mission Georgia, and EUFOR Libya. As part of EUFOR Atalanta, we have 12 men from our Maritime Squadron on board a Dutch Navy vessel carrying out anti-piracy and maritime security duties. We also hold one of the key staff positions in the FHQ at RAF Northwood, in the UK. Malta was one of the first countries to have troops on the ground in Georgia when EUMM was set up in 2008, and we are now rotating our two monitors, including our first ever female deployment on an EU mission. As part of EUTM (Somalia), Malta is part of a combined team, along with Ireland, training Somali officers and NCOs in Uganda. This mission has recently been extended, with Ireland heading the mission, and I am pleased that a Maltese captain will be the ATC to the Mission Commander. Malta is not a member of an EU battle- group at present although we have obtained political approval to participate. Studies are currently being done to see in what manner or form we can contribute given the limitations of our forces and our domestic commitments. From the PfP toolbox we are utilising the areas of peace-support operations, civil/ military cooperation, maritime search-and- rescue, and humanitarian operations. Malta and Ireland share a common ap- proach to defence and security. We are both neutral and our militaries are structured in similar ways to meet both the requirements of the state and assisting in international peace and security. AFM officers regularly attend staff courses in Ireland and for us this is very important, since we do not have our own academies. It also helps from an interoperability point of view, as we now have personnel serving on UN-mandated missions, such as UNIFIL and EUTM (Somalia). I would also like to highlight the collaboration between the AFM and the Irish Defence Forces last spring during the evacuation of foreign nationals from Libya, where Malta served as a forward operating base for Defence Forces assets. Approximate- ly 21,000 foreign nationals were evacuated through Malta. We value the partnership that has been established with the Irish Defence Forces. We have a lot to learn from your Defence Forces as you have a vast experience in overseas peacekeeping and peace-support operations.

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