End of the 35th International Military Observer Course (IMOC)

The event was attended besides the personnel of the HDF PSTC – among others by Mr. Misitura Abdulraheem representing the Nigerian Embassy, General (Ret.) Dr. Zoltán Szenes, former Chief of Defence Staff, Brig.-Gen. Zoltán Apáti, the Chief of the General Staff Training and Education Directorate and Col. Vilmos Nosza, the Acting Chief of the HDF Military Augmentation, Preparation and Training Command.

From the twenty seven participants of the course starting on May 22, twenty two came from abroad: Algeria, Egypt, Ethiopia, Estonia, Georgia, India, Israel, Canada, Kazakhstan, China, Lithuania, Nigeria, Pakistan, Serbia, Slovenia and Tunisia delegated students, as for the Hungarians: one policeman and four soldiers took part in the IMOC.

“Officially this was the first occasion, when we organised a course in the spirit of the so called comprehensive peacekeeping. Soldiers, policemen and civil experts perform missions in most of the crisis areas. This practice was introduced in our training course, and this will be the example to follow in the future" – said Col. László Drót, the Commander of the Centre.

In the first week, during the theoretical sessions, the students acquired and refreshed the basic knowledge necessary for UN military observers, they took part in sessions dealing with patrolling, investigation of reports, collection of information, and a priority attention was given to negotiation techniques, use of language assistants and cultural awareness.

In the second week of the course, they already left the schoolrooms, and carried out assignments in patrol groups, simulating real-life situations in the Szolnok Centre and in the region of Egerbakta. In the last week of the preparation course they participated in aerial reconnaissance flights, and in a two-day closing exercise.

On June 8, the diploma certifying the completion of the course was presented to the students, who will thus have the opportunity, to perform tours of duty abroad in military observer missions led by the UN, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the EU and other international organisations, or in the framework of other peace support operations.