ZAGREB, April 18, 2018 – The first Croatian contingent to serve in the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) was seen off at a ceremony in Karlovac on Wednesday.
The 52-strong contingent, including two women, will be serving in the mission as part of the Italian army contingent.
Addressing the ceremony, Defence Minister Damir Krstičević recalled that Croatian troops had been serving in UNIFIL since March 2007 but that this was the first time a Croatian engineer corps would be serving in the mission with partners from Italy. The Italian contingent also includes members of the Slovenian and Hungarian armies, while Croatian and Austrian troops will be joining them now.
Krstičević said that around 500 Croatian troops are currently serving in UN, NATO and EU missions around the world.
Also attending the ceremony were, among others, US Ambassador Robert Kohorst, the Italian military attache, General Giuseppe Gimondo, and the Hungarian military attache, Colonel Laszlo Attila Szendroi.
Krstičević recalled that since 1990 the United States, as Croatia’s key ally and partner, had provided the Croatian Army with various equipment worth 500 million dollars.
US Ambassador Kohorst said that he was impressed by the Croatian contingent and noted that the US had helped equip it with various equipment worth 3.5 million dollars for its Lebanon mission.
