Armenia sends second batch of peacekeepers to Iraq for rotation

Arminfo
11 Jul 05

YEREVAN

Armenia does not pursue any military goals by sending peacekeepers to
Iraq, this is an exceptionally humanitarian mission, Chief of the
General Staff Col-Gen Mikael Arutyunyan has said at a ceremony to
dispatch the second group of peacekeepers to Iraq for six months.

The chief of the General Staff noted that participation in the
post-war restoration of Iraq is not the only peacekeeping mission in
which Armenia is taking part. Armenian peacekeepers are serving in
Kosovo, and they have been rotated twice already.

Talking to journalists after the ceremony, Arutyunyan said that at the
beginning the peacekeepers will be trained in Kuwait and will then be
redeployed to Iraq where they will fulfil their task under the Polish
command. They will stay there with the first group for several days,
after which the first group will return to Armenia. He noted that the
Polish command is very pleased with the Armenian peacekeepers who are
rated highly.

“I met the chief of the General Staff and the first deputy defence
minister of Poland in Brussels and they are very pleased with our
group. They noted the discipline and professionalism of the Armenian
servicemen,” Mikael Arutyunyan stressed.

Asked whether a third group of peacekeepers might be sent to Iraq, the
chief of the General Staff noted that the Armenian army was ready for
this. At the same time he noted that the Armenian parliament has
adopted a decision on sending Armenian peacekeepers to Iraq for a
year. “At the end of the year the parliament will return to this
issue. Only after this will it be possible to say whether the third
group will be sent,” the colonel-general noted.

The first batch of Armenian peacekeepers left for Iraq on 18
January. The second group will return on 20 December. The Armenian
servicemen are engaged exclusively in humanitarian activities in Iraq,
including medical aid, mine clearing and delivery of humanitarian aid.

The Armenian peacekeepers include 46 servicemen, including 30 drivers,
three doctors, 10 sappers, a liaison officer, a platoon commander and
an officer who will be in charge of overall command.