The deployment of the new Hungarian contingent to Kosovo has started, according to a press release by the Ministry of Defence of Hungary on Monday, 3 March. 280 soldiers from Hungary are replacing their counterparts in the Balkan nation. They will be serving there for five months, from April to September.
‘The stability of the western Balkans is of significant importance to the Government of Hungary; thus, Hungary has been participating in the largest land mission of NATO, the Kosovo Force (KFOR) peacekeeping mission in Kosovo since the beginnings, and today is among the most significant troop contributing nations,’ the communiqué from the Ministry states.
The Kosovo Force mission, or KFOR for short, was started by NATO in 1999, in the midst of the Yugoslav wars. After 26 years, tensions remain high in the region. While Kosovo declared its independence in 2008, the neighbouring countries of Serbia, and the nearby countries of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Romania, and Greece have not recognized their claim to sovereignty. Meanwhile, other countries in the region, such as Montenegro, Albania, Croatia, and Hungary, have done so.
‘The Hungarian Defence Forces have undertaken to fill several command positions in the operation: from October 2021 Major General Ferenc Kajári was the mission commander for one year, and since October 2023 the HDF have provided the Deputy Chief of Operations of the KFOR Staff,’ the Defence Ministry continues to write. ‘The incoming contingent is the first one that was prepared by the Hungarian Air Force. The rotation is continuous. The homecoming soldiers, via sharing their lessons learned, contribute to the success of future missions and the training of newcomer personnel.’
The main task of the Hungarian contingent, besides carrying out crowd control tasks, is to provide the deployed troops fire phobia training. Fire phobia training is exactly what the name suggests: it is the process of getting soldiers accommodated to be in the close proximity to fires.
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