The peacekeeping and other missions Hungarian soldiers are involved in will be transformed next year, Hungarian Chief of Staff Laszlo Tombol told MTI in Larnaca, Cyprus, on Sunday.
As the situation seems to have been stabilised in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo, the international community has decided to cut the force of the ALTHEA and KFOR missions, he said.
As ALTHEA will shift from a deterrent force to a training mission, its force will be reduced from 2,500 to 200. Hungary would like to take part in that mission with 15 to 20 members, he said.
The planned cut will not affect the Hungarian KFOR contingent significantly, he added.
In line with the international trend, Hungary plans to shifts its focus to military training in Afghanistan, too. In addition, it is going to send a unit to secure the forthcoming parliamentary elections in that country, Tombol said.
Somalia, hit by modern-day piracy, might become another field of action for Hungarian soldiers, he said. They would take part in the European Union’s efforts to train Somali security forces, most probably in Uganda. Three Hungarian staff officers are already staying in Djibouti to study local conditions, the chief of staff said.
Tombol and the Slovak chief of staff have paid a three-day visit to Cyprus to meet leaders of the local UN mission and the joint Hungarian-Slovak battalion.
