ARMENIA EXTENDS TERM OF MILITARY CONTINGENT IN IRAQ

RIA Novosti, Russia
Dec 6 2006

YEREVAN, December 6 (RIA Novosti) – Armenia’s parliament voted
Wednesday to extend its military presence in Iraq by 12 months.

Armenia’s legislature ratified December 24, 2004 a memorandum on
the dispatch of a peacekeeping contingent to Iraq for a term of 12
months. In 2005, Armenia’s national assembly extended the contingent’s
mission in Iraq for another 12 months.

Serzh Sarkisyan, the Armenian defense minister, earlier said Armenia’s
participation in the peacekeeping mission in Iraq gave the republic
additional leverage in its relations with international organizations
to protect its interests.

Sarkisyan added that Armenian servicemen were carrying out a
humanitarian mission in Iraq and were not directly engaged in combat
operations.

The proposal by the Armenian president to extend the term of the
republic’s peacekeeping mission in Iraq was supported by 85 MPs,
with 19 votes against and one abstention.

The Armenian peacekeeping contingent in Iraq comprises three staff
officers, two military doctors, an engineering unit (10 men) and a
transport platoon (31 drivers).