Hungarians in UNFICYP

The Hungarian Contingent is divided into three main parts. Most of the personnel is assigned to the 4th Sector of the buffer zone, which is under the control of the joint Slovak–Hungarian Sector HQ stationed in the town of Famagusta. The Hungarian officers, NCOs and enlisted service members of the Famagusta-based staff, Platoon 1, and the military liaison teams belong to this group.

The second large group of Hungarian troops – all in all 13 – is assigned to the UN Peace-keeping Force in Cyprus Headquarters in Nicosia (UNFICYP HQ). One of their subunits discharges force protection duties at the HQ, and they contribute the so-called Mobile Force Reserve (MFR) which is the operational reserve under the Force Commander. The Hungarian troops of the Force Military Police Unit (FMPU) executing conventional military police tasks come under this group, too. The third part of the contingent is the staff officers’ group, consisting of five officers and one warrant officer, who serve in Nicosia. They perform operational, medical, logistical and personnel planning tasks.

Let’s have a closer look at the Hungarian peacekeepers’ duties in Cyprus. The 1st Platoon of the Slovak–Hungarian company under the Sector Commander is stationed in the village of Athienou. The 37 Hungarian service members execute patrol and logistic support tasks. They had to acquire a very precise picture of the zone during the five weeks of their mission rehearsal training in Szolnok, Hungary and in the two weeks after their arrival, as – with a little exaggeration – they had to be aware of each pebble and tree in the area. This knowledge is vital, because this was the only way for them to establish whether an incident took place in the buffer zone, or any other event that is prohibited by the UN.

Even though the Cyprus mission often wears the attribute “practicing", the task execution of the Hungarian troops of the 1st Platoon was not entirely without dangers because of the frequently occurring emergencies, and in the summer period they had to contribute to extinguishing leaf fires as well.

In addition to the daily routine tasks, the Hungarian soldiers were involved in the past one year in the evacuation of the UN staff in Libya to Cyprus. They helped the Serbian peacekeeping squad joining the 1st Platoon in their integration into the mission.

At the handover-takeover ceremony, held on Wednesday, September 28, in Athineou, the outgoing Commander, Lt.-Col. Imre Kovács in his speech thanked the contingent for their exceptional performance. He also welcomed the 77 Hungarian troops – among them the Commander of the Contingent, Lt.-Col. (Eng.) Péter Lukács -, who will serve on the island in the coming one year.