Operation Enduring Freedom – Horn of Africa to a third party. Pirates are rampant along the coast of Somalia and present a hazard to all shipping there; as such, anti-piracy operations are a routine part of Operation Enduring Freedom: Horn of Africa. This is done primarily by the Combined Task Force 150 and in parallel to other independent anti-piracy operations conducted off the coast of Somalia by other countries such as China, India and Russia. The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter USCGC "Munro" (WHEC-724), working with carrier and the destroyer in the Gulf of Aden, intercepted a hijacked vessel at around noon on 17 March. The interception was
Horn of Africa Suez canal in 1869, when European powers scrambled for territory in Africa and tried to establish coaling stations for their ships, Italy invaded and occupied Eritrea. On January 1, 1890, Eritrea officially became a colony of Italy. In 1896 further Italian incursion into the horn was decisively halted by Ethiopian forces. By 1936 however, Eritrea became a province of Italian East Africa (Africa Orientale Italiana), along with Ethiopia and Italian Somaliland. By 1941, Eritrea had about 760,000 inhabitants, including 70,000 Italians. The Commonwealth armed forces, along with the Ethiopian patriotic resistance, expelled those of Italy in 1941, and took over