On Hot Spots

One such HDF military observer (MILOB) contingents participates in MINURSO (Mission des Nations Unies pour l’ Organisation d’ un Referendum au Sahara Occidental), the UN peacekeeping mission for the referendum in Western Sahara which has been running for 15 years. The United Nations Security Council decided to establish MINURSO in 1991 with the aim of putting an end to the fighting that began in 1973 in a Moroccan-occupied 266,000 km2 area between Morocco and Mauritania, on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. That was the year when an armed conflict broke out between the occupying Moroccan army and the Polisario (Frente Popular para la Liberacion de Saguia El-Hamra y Rio de Oro), an organization fighting for the independence of that land. Morocco and the Polisario had both agreed to the UN’s settlement proposals of 1988 for the Western Sahara, a development which played a major role in launching the mission for a referendum which would give Western Saharans an opportunity to choose between independence and integration into Morocco as a province with certain special rights.

Anarchy and pirates

The next mission of the Hungarian Defence Forces in Africa is the EUSEC RD Congo (EU Advisory and Assistance Mission for Security Reform in the Democratic Republic of Congo). The Congolese conflict originates from the fight for the country’s raw materials, which runs through Congo’s bloody history, a history that is plagued with civil war and suffering. The country declared its independence in 1960, and tribal leaders and neighboring countries tried to get their hands on the mineral deposits of the anarchy-stricken state, just as the Belgian colonizers had done before independence was achieved. Since the breakout of the conflict which is often referred to as the first “African world war", the armed fighting and the humanitarian disaster in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have been considered the largest contemporary crisis in Africa in need of resolution.

Following an official request by the DRC government in Kinshasa, the European Union decided to establish an advisory and assistance mission involving only eight experts. The EUSEC RD Congo was launched on June 8, 2005. The Hungarian Defence Forces are present in the contingent with two officers and a non-commissioned officer (NCO), and there are two HDF subject matter experts (SME) in the EU advisory team.

Hungary posted Sgt. 1st Class József Csorna to the EU NAVFOR mission. He is working as a web admin at the EU NAVFOR HQ in Northwood, England. He is responsible for all registrations (users, vessels) on the official website of the operation, and for the management of a website created to facilitate communication between warships. The lines of communication between commercial vessels and warships has presumably been working reliably during pirate attacks as well, as the EU NAVFOR HQ recently requested the extension of SFC Csorna’s tour of duty by three months.

Advisors and trainers

Another crisis zone with another small HDF team of experts present: this is the UNIFIL (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon). The UNIFIL was established by the UN Security Council in 1978 to verify the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Lebanon and support the Lebanese government in exercising its power in the southern regions. Following a new wave of armed fighting resulting in heavy casualties in July 2006, the UN SC decided to increase the troop levels of the mission to 15,000, and to extend its area of responsibility (AOR). In line with these developments, the UNIFIL contributes to the Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) process of armed groups, prevents any form of hostility, assists and supports the deployment of the Lebanese armed forces to South Lebanon, manages the transport of humanitarian aid for the civilian population and ensures the safe and free return of internally displaced persons (IDPs).

In the past some years, one of the most outstanding roles of the Hungarian Defence Forces abroad was their participation in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Following the pullout of the HDF Transport Battalion, the Hungarian officers serving at the Coalition forces HQ in Baghdad and those on the staff of the Poland-led division in Babylon, HDF troops continue to deploy in the country. At first, 15 HDF personnel rotated with the MALT (Military Advisory and Liaison Team) contingents to assist with the training of the new Iraqi army, and since their withdrawal in 2008, the Hungarian Defence Forces have been participating in the NTM-I (NATO Training Mission – Iraq) rotations. The NTM-I is responsible for training and advising a team drawn from the general staff of the Iraqi army, assisting the establishment of a military college and a training and doctrine centre (TRADOC), coordinating national contributions in the fields of military equipment and education and assisting the establishment of the Iraqi training and doctrine command (ITDC). Currently three Hungarian staff officers are posted to the NTM-I.

Piracy must be combated on the mainland, too, so there is a need for the training of the Somalian security forces. The European Union finalized its political strategy and crisis management concept concerning the “Horn of Africa" by December 2009. In order to implement these ideas in practice, the EU has established a Training Mission in Somalia (EUTM Somalia) with the primary aim of helping the Ugandan army with the training of Somalian security forces within a modular system in some special areas that the Ugandan armed forces are less familiar with. The Hungarian Defence Forces contribute three trainers to assist the NCO basic training in the mission and have posted a military advisor to the mission HQ in Kampala.

Photo: internet and mission archive