Cabinet approved new deployment and changes in military missions

The Cabinet has approved proposals to deploy new peacekeeping units and to carry out changes in some military missions. Foreign Affairs Minister Eduard Kukan stressed that all the approved changes are fully in line with priorities of Slovakia's foreign policy. Mr. Kukan added that Slovakia as a future non-permanent member of the UN Security Council is expected to play a more active role in foreign policy.

Slovakia should send forty soldiers to the EU peacekeeping operation code named Althea in Bosnia and Herzegovina, said Defense Minister Juraj Liska. The Althea operation is the biggest EU military mission so far. Slovak peacekeepers as a guard platoon should operate at the mission headquarters. Their task will also be patrolling and accompanying convoys. Liska is now visiting Serbia and Montenegro to speak to his counterpart Zoran Stankovic to discuss their military cooperation.

In the conclusion, the proposal approved by the government expects to increase the number of Slovak troops in international missions by 77 to a total of 643 in the New Year. New troops will operate in the Balkans and Sudan. Slovakia's armed forces will dispatch two observers to an EU mission in Darfur, Sudan. According to Liska, the ministry is also considering strengthening the Slovak unit in Iraq. All changes, which the cabinet approved on Wednesday, are subject to approval in parliament.