A 117-strong infantry unit bid farewell on Friday before heading off to Bosnia-Herzegovina to serve in the EU-led Altea peacekeeping mission. The unit, which is based at the Celje barracks, will be stationed at a military base in Tuzla.
Relieving a smaller infantry unit currently based in Tuzla, the contingent is made up of five officers, 14 non-commissioned officers and 98 soldiers.
Chief-of-Staff, Major General Ladislav Lipic, explained that the unit would mainly conduct reconnaissance and information-gathering missions as ordered by the military command.
Defence Minister Karl Erjavec stressed in a keynote address that the EU has a vested interest in having SE Europe stabilised as soon as possible. He also noted that this is the first sizeable unit that Slovenia has assigned for peacekeeping purposes.
The EU's EUFOR forces took over from NATO's SFOR in December in what is the first major EU-led peacekeeping operation.
The operation includes 22 EU members, as well as Albania, Argentina, Bulgaria, Canada, Morocco, New Zealand, Norway, Romania, Switzerland and Turkey.
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